The Ghosts of Dreams We Left Behind
by Crawlspace
Summary: Returning from the visit with Ami's grandparents, the girls face the consequences of their secrets and a new enemy emerges. Fifth story in the 'Fate' series.
1. Fretful Horizons

"The Ghosts of Dreams We Left Behind"

by

Crawlspace

* * *

Down the ancient corridors

And through the gates of time

Run the ghosts of dreams

That we left behind"

---Dan Fogelberg, 'The Innocent Age'

* * *

**Author's Note**: After a long hiatus, here is the 5th story in the Fate series. It will pick up right where Tangled Web left off. There are some characters from the Silver Millennium series that will be the prequel to the Fate series mentioned here, so I've included a cast list at the end of this chapter to help identify them.

* * *

_**Chapter One: Fretful Horizons **_

A warm, sunny morning had given way to a dreary and humid afternoon. The air conditioner in the classroom sputtered and coughed, threatening to end its unhappy existence right here and now. Not that it had been doing much good anyway.

Masanori sighed and blew at his sweaty bangs. He wished now that he had heeded his instructor's advice and left with the rest of the class. But the figure in the clay had called to him, her siren's song too sweet to ignore.

The boy smiled. The clay beneath his hands now resembled the image in his dreams, and soon he would be able to share that vision with others. Another day or two of detail work and she would be ready.

Thunder rumbled lightly, drawing Masanori's attention to the darkening sky. Perhaps now was the time to leave, though the thought pained him. But if he was going to catch the bus on its next circuit passed the university, he would need to go. His lady would be here waiting for him tomorrow.

Reluctantly, Masanori cleaned his work area and put up his sculpture for the evening. He'd made it nearly to the bus stop when the first drop of rain touched the curve of his ear. He stopped and looked up only to be rewarded by a second drop landing squarely in his eye. He didn't even have time to blink before the bottom dropped out, and he started to run even though it was a hopeless effort.

Standing in the glass confine of the bus shelter, the boy grumbled unhappily as he tried to wring out his soaking wet clothes. His backpack was equally drenched, and he dreaded opening it, afraid he would find little more than ruined sketches and charcoal gray muck.

"You look like you could use some help."

Masanori jumped and let out an embarrassingly high pitched yelp. He hadn't even heard her walk up he'd been so lost in his own predicament. "Oh, yeah," he stammered as she smiled at him from beneath a large umbrella.

She held out a handkerchief which he gratefully accepted, and she giggled lightly. "You see," she went on with a grin. "You should always listen to your sensei."

………………………………

The rain pelting against the office window made the night seem even darker and lonelier than it already was. It seemed her beloved mistress had abandoned her, frustrated by her silence and indecision.

With a pen seesawing quickly between her fingers, Kaya stared at the name and phone number she had scribbled on her notepad. He was a friend and a consummate professional who just happened to possess an eternally curious soul. For him, each challenge was a glorious adventure and she was almost certain he would agree to her terms to be part of this particular challenge. But could she really trust him?

The pen faltered in its movements and she let it fall to the desk. A sigh passed her lips and she pinched the bridge of her nose beneath her glasses. Why was she even considering this? Her eyes lifted to a picture of Ami smiling at her from the bookshelf.

That smile. That was why. She needed to know.

It was just around dinnertime in Germany. Kaya picked up her cell phone and hoped Lisel would forgive her for disturbing their meal and likely taking Fredrick away from her for the rest of the evening. She was about to pique his curiosity and offer him a new adventure, which meant this was going to be one very long phone call.

………………………………

Rei stretched and yawned and grunted, not at all surprised to find herself alone considering how late she'd slept in. But it was Saturday, the shrine didn't need her for anything of importance, and after a week of broken and restless sleep, she was going to take whatever real rest she could get.

She sat up slowly, taking part of her quilt with her, and swung her legs over the side of the bed. The rain had finally stopped, she noted as she blinked groggily into filtered daylight. She scratched at the back of her head and wondered where Minako had gotten to.

After a few seconds of blindly searching with her toes for her slippers, she padded over to her robe and went in search of her wife. And maybe some breakfast, too, she thought with a grin.

Food became a distant idea, though, as the scent of bleach assaulted her nostrils. She cocked an eyebrow as her steps became more tentative. "Minako?" she called, almost afraid to get an answer.

She rounded a corner, then stopped in her tracks. Making an unhappy yet resigned sort of sigh, Rei brought a hand up to rub at her temple. She didn't really need to ask who had caused the disaster in front of her. The wash bucket, bottles of cleaner, and dust rags haphazardly littering the hallway fairly screamed "Minako," as did the sponges and puddles of soapy water gleaming at her from behind a half closed bathroom door. She stepped over the mop that had been abandoned in the hallway, but as she bent to pick up one of the rags, a twitch of movement from the corner of her eye stopped her.

"Freeze!"

Artemis did as commanded and stopped still as a white furry statue mid-escape.

Rei stepped over to him and knelt down. "Okay, where is Minako and what," she waved a hand at the explosion of cleaning supplies, "is all this?"

"She went to see Setsuna," answered Artemis as he sat back on his haunches.

"And…" prompted Rei.

Artemis cringed. He had told Minako it was a bad idea before she'd even finished the thought. "She used to know someone who would clean every square centimeter of available surface when she had something she needed to work through. Minako wanted to give it a try."

"Obviously not her thing," replied Rei with a smirk. She reached out and lightly scratched between the cat's ears. "But since she's going to see Setsuna, does that mean she worked some of it out?"

Artemis shook his head. "She felt like she needed to go even if she didn't have a complete answer."

"She'll be okay," said Rei as she stood. "We don't give her enough credit sometimes." She stretched her arms up over her head trying to look more casual and confident than she felt. "C'mon, let's get something to eat. She'll want to go check on Ami and Makoto when she gets back, and I promised Usagi she could go with us today."

………………………………

The scent of damp earth and concrete in the afternoon sun lingered over the patio. Minako poked at the orange slice in her lemonade, acutely aware of the patient smile Setsuna wore as the older woman watched her in amusement.

"I'm stalling," Minako muttered into her glass.

"I know," answered Setsuna, taking a slow sip from her glass.

"Hmph. Well," went on Minako, sitting up straight and looking very determined, "no more stalling."

Setsuna grinned widely and set down her glass. "Does this mean I'm finally going to discover why you came to see me?"

Minako feigned hurt. "I could have just stopped by to see a friend, you know. I don't _have_ to have a specific reason."

"That's true," said Setsuna, but then she shook her head. "But not today. You've been entirely too quiet for a social call."

"Can't really argue with that," replied Minako with a nod, acknowledging her Senshi's superior deductive reasoning.

Setsuna leaned forward and gave Minako a hard stare across the short expanse of tabletop. "You're still stalling."

Minako froze mid nod, then sighed. "Yeah, I am." She set her glass down and looked across at Setsuna. "So here's the thing. I know you guys like to keep yourselves kinda separate from the rest of us, and that's been okay up to now. If I'm being honest, we've even encouraged it a little with a bit of hero worship."

Setsuna chuckled at that, and Minako felt a tinge of self-consciousness creep in. She cleared her throat and scratched at her ear, then continued. "Anyway, I think lately you guys have been just a little _too_ separate."

"Really?" answered Setsuna seeming genuinely surprised by the idea. "Things seem to me the way they've always been."

Minako smirked. "Define 'always.'" Leaning forward, she crossed her arms on the tabletop. "I know you, Uranus, and Neptune have always had these Super Secret Serenity Orders that I'm not supposed to ask about, but even with those orders, you were part of the group. And when you were given orders, you followed them."

The teasing and playfulness left her features to be replaced by a rare seriousness. "They didn't follow orders, Setsuna. I take responsibility for that. I'm not their leader yet, but I need to find a way to be because I won't have that kind of chaos follow us into another battle."

Setsuna suddenly found herself lost within the intensity of Minako's gaze. For just a moment, the leader she had seen glimmerings of – the one Aria had said slept within the tiny child from Venus – emerged, though she stood there beside uncertainty and doubt.

"Have you decided how you want to approach them?" asked Setsuna.

Minako fell back into her chair, her intensity fading. "No, not yet. I mean, it's not like I've given up on beating Haruka at Gran Turismo. I just need to get there without her treating me like I'm her adorable ten-year-old idiot." Then she grinned. "I tried channeling Kita this morning, to see if I could figure out what to do."

This earned her a hardy laugh as Setsuna remembered the former Mars and the frantic cleaning that followed any crisis, no matter how minor. "Did that work well for you?"

"Not at all," admitted Minako ruefully. "I hope Rei doesn't get too upset over the mess I left her." Then she took on a very thoughtful look and tapped her index finger against her lips. "Maybe I should try Aria's way of…"

"Perhaps," interrupted Setsuna, not at all certain the girl actually knew her mentor's methods, but firmly believing some things were best left in the past. "Perhaps you would be better served to find your own way."

Minako shrugged. "I guess." Once again she found a great deal of interest in her glass and the shifting of melting ice cubes, and silence fell over them. Her lips pursed as she thought about another subject and whether or not she should bring it up.

"Minako?" said Setsuna gently.

The blond startled. "Hm? What?"

The Time Senshi raised an eyebrow.

"Well, you see, when we were away," started Minako, deciding it was best to just go ahead and bite the barn door before the horse got out and trampled all over her and her fleeting courage. So, she just blurted it out, closing her eyes like she expected to be hit. "Rei and I are still bonded."

"I know," answered Setsuna.

Minako peered at her senshi through slitted eyes. "What do you mean you know?"

"I know," repeated Setsuna. "I'm sorry, Minako, I didn't realize you didn't. It's why we were cautioned so strongly before entering into a bond. 'Eternal' was more than just a point in the ceremony. In our case it was meant quite literally."

With a huff, Minako crossed her arms. "First off, I wasn't 'cautioned' about anything until after the fact, and even then it was mostly just Kita freaking out and wanting to know why we couldn't have waited until after she was gone so she wouldn't have to know about it. And B, we died! More than once! I didn't know, Setsuna, and I haven't told Rei about any of it."

"Oh, I see," replied Setsuna, now understanding the blonde's predicament.

"Yeah," returned Minako. "And I haven't figured out what to do about that, either."

"I would have told you if I had realized you didn't know," said Setsuna apologetically.

"I know. Same with Artemis. But it's been so long now…" Minako trailed off, silently revisiting the list of reasons she had for not telling Rei.

"You're afraid she won't understand," picked up Setsuna. "That you've waited to tell her or that the bonding happened in the first place?"

"Both," answered Minako with a sigh. "You know how she is about things like fate or her life somehow being manipulated."

"She loves you."

"I know that!" shot back Minako more defensively than she'd intended. "And that just scares me more because I don't know _why_ she loves me. She just does. I don't want her to question it, not now that I have her back."

Setsuna nodded, not agreeing but understanding.

"Um…" went on Minako, curious now that the subject had come up, "Haruka and Michiru?"

"I don't know," answered Setsuna. "I've never asked – then or now. And they've never felt a need to question me about it."

Minako laughed. "I didn't have a need to question Kita about it, either, but that didn't keep her from finding out." Her eyes narrowed at the tiny, amused smile on Setsuna's lips. "You know, don't you?"

"I have an idea," replied Setsuna, finding she enjoyed teasing her young friend just a bit. "But it is only speculation and it wouldn't do to start a rumor without being certain of the truth behind it."

"Oh, come on!" pleaded Minako as she rolled her eyes in disbelief. "I spent centuries trying to figure out who ratted on me! You have to tell me! I know it wasn't Makoto. Was it Usagi? Or Neisei? She always hated me, and it would have been just like her to go running to Kita with it if she found out."

Setsuna smiled, but stayed silent by taking a long draught from her glass.

Realizing she wasn't going to get anywhere, Minako leaned back and picked up her glass. "Fine," she said petulantly, then took a quick gulp. "If you're going to be like that, then I also won't start a rumor about where I was hiding and who I was hiding with when a certain Time Senshi was told she was being too uptight and made her queen go _squee_ just to prove her wrong."

Setsuna's glass slammed to the table as she sputtered and choked on her lemonade. "You…" she gasped between breaths. "You… and Usagi… actually saw…"

Minako laughed merrily. "Now, now, no starting rumors. Besides," she added, wagging a finger at Setsuna, "I never said it was Usagi. But don't worry. If it was her I would have covered her eyes. Koto would have killed me otherwise."

"That's not the point," rasped Setsuna, her cheeks dark with embarrassment.

Minako just smiled. She emptied her glass and crunched on an ice cube, then stood. "Thank you," she said. "I've enjoyed this. And I'll get things figured out before too long. I know I will. And I can just see the look Haruka's gonna give me when I do."

Setsuna smirked at the dower look Minako made in imitation of the racer. "I think that's a fairly apt representation, I'm afraid."

Minako nodded, then turned to leave.

"Oh, and Minako," called Setsuna, stopping the girl. "Remember, no rumors."

Minako grinned ear to ear. "Right, no rumors."

……………………

"How much longer is she going to be?" questioned Makoto as she dangled a shiny bauble above Miki as he lay beside her on the couch.

"I don't know," answered Ami, her tone short as she futzed with some papers on her desk, then walked over to fall wearily into an empty chair. Through tired eyes she watched Miki give his full attention to the object that swung lazily across his vision.

The baby hadn't been more than a few feet from either of them in the week that they'd been back, and neither of them had thought it needed to be any different. Ami had even gone back on the one thing she swore she never would and suggested they move his crib into their room. In truth the crib had been a compromise, because she didn't want to sleep without her partner and if Miki wasn't there, Makoto wouldn't be, either.

Not that any of them were really getting much sleep regardless. Things that went bump in the night now bore an entirely new threat, and getting cryptic messages from her mother wasn't helping their already frayed nerves.

"And she didn't say anything about why she was coming," asked Makoto for the forth time as if the answer may have changed between now and the last time she asked.

"No," answered Ami before she got up and moved back over to her desk.

"Well are you sure…"

"Yes!" bit out Ami. Then she stopped herself, took a deep breath, and walked calmly to the bookshelf with a thick tome in her hands. As she reached up to find a spot for the book, she went on in a quieter manner. "Yes. She was too formal, too curt. She has something very specific on her mind and she knows we aren't going to be pleased by it."

Makoto frowned and Miki's playfulness stopped as her body unconsciously tensed, preparing for a fight. "I won't let her take you away," she said, a frightening resolve underlying the words. Miki let out a plaintive cry and she picked him up to lay on her shoulder as she went on, "I'm not rich, but I'm not poor, either. If it comes down to it, I'll pack up you, Miki, and Usagi and take us so far away not even Luna will be able to find us."

Ami found no comfort in those words or the protectiveness of the one she loved. The total lack of exaggeration scared her, and until her mother showed her hand, she had no idea how to argue against it.

She went back to her chair and sat on the edge, her hands folded tersely on her knee. For a moment her eyes closed and she wished desperately that her mother would hurry so they could just get this – whatever it was – over with.

…………………………

In the parking lot, Kaya tapped her fingers against the steering wheel, regretting that she had drug things out the way she had. Her uncertainties had delayed her, though, and as she sat here she still wasn't sure just how much she was going to tell them. She had painted the picture of her proposal in broad strokes to Fredrick with the intention of giving him slightly more detail when he was standing in front of her on Japanese soil. He'd actually laughed at her when she told him she wanted full genetic breakdowns on roughly a dozen anonymous subjects. Three hours and a friends' agreement to keep this off the books later, he had flight information but nothing more.

Kaya sighed and let her head fall back against the headrest. The secrecy of it all had only engaged Fredrick more readily. She doubted very much she would get the same merry response from her daughter. Her eyes lifted up to the apartment complex. She wasn't going to lie to them, she reminded herself. She was just going to leave out some of the details. It was for the best of everyone involved. She nodded, mentally preparing herself. This was for the best.

Her resolve wavered, though, once she was actually inside. For just a moment, she almost changed her mind. It was because of how tired they looked and how wary of her they seemed as they watched her. However, she had come this far and it was too late to back down now, regardless of how much Makoto may glare at her.

"It's not that particularly complicated," she went on as she sat in the living room across from the girls. She held a warm cup of tea in her hands almost as desperately as Makoto held Miki and tried to make them understand her reasons. "A physical, some basic blood work. All of it anonymous, of course. And of course, all of you. Especially you, Makoto, and the children. No matter what you say, there is a difference now, and I need to know how to take care of all of you if I ever find you in my emergency room."

"Mom," began Ami cautiously, because no matter how reasonable this may seem on the surface, to let it proceed could open a Pandora's Box of problems none of them needed to deal right now. "I understand what you're trying to do, but it really isn't necessary. I've already…"

Kaya held up a hand to stop her, then set her cup on the sidetable. "A choice isn't being given, Ami. Considering everything I've accepted up to this point, I don't think I'm being unreasonable." She waited a beat for a dissenting opinion, and when she got none, she continued. "I know you need time to think this through and to speak with your friends. We'll talk again after you do to get everything set up."

"Like hell!" Makoto spat out suddenly. The baby whimpered and fidgeted at her outburst, but the cord holding her back had finally snapped. "Ami may be your daughter, but I'm not, and you have no right to come in here and start ordering anything, and on top of that…"

"Stop, Mako-chan," said Ami, her voice firm but quiet as a hand rested on Makoto's knee. It had the desired affect, but Makoto's jaw clenched so tight it looked like it would break as Ami turned back to her mother. "You know I'll do what you ask, but I can't promise about the others. I will talk with them, though. I'll just need a few days."

Kaya nodded, fighting the urge to cry. She stood and turned to leave. "I'll call if I don't hear from you," she said, then showed herself out.

Ami took a deep breath and braced herself. It took a few seconds, but finally Makoto handed the baby to her and walked to the other side of the room. She cradled Miki close, placing a hand over his exposed ear.

"What the hell!" shouted Makoto loudly enough that is was sure to catch the neighbors' attention. "You don't care at all, do you, that she comes in here and starts making demands like that! And I don't care how much she thinks she's let you do, she doesn't have the right! This is my home, damn it!" Then she laughed bitterly. "And I'd love to see her tell Haruka she has to do anything. That would be priceless!"

"You don't understand," said Ami softly.

"She's a control freak," threw back Makoto. "What about that don't I understand?"

Ami shook her head. "That's not it. That's not the real problem."

"Yeah, it is."

"No." She stood suddenly, kissed Miki's forehead, then handed him back to Makoto. "I'll be back. I have to talk to Minako."

"What? Why?" asked Makoto, her confusion almost comical as Ami turned and walked to the door.

"I just do," answered Ami absently. She struggled with her shoelaces for a moment, then opened the door and said again, "I'll be back."

The door closed, rattling in the doorframe as Ami hurried away. Makoto stood, fuming. "Damn it," she muttered. "Damn it all."

……………………

Each step she took carried a basic determination. The visit to see Minako had a very clearly defined purpose and could be laid out clearly and concisely using what was now a very practiced mental script.

That script, however, hadn't accounted for the variable of an absent Minako.

The smile Rei had greeted her with turned into an annoyed frown. "Don't know why, but she ran off to see Setsuna," the miko said as she gave the neglected donation box a shake. "You should see the mess she left behind, too." Rei snickered. "I've preserved it just as she left it in anticipation of her return."

"Oh," answered Ami flatly. Her mind struggled to come up with a contingent plan, but found only blank spaces.

Rei's mirth turned to concern at the unexpected confusion that showed on Ami's face. Those blue eyes had gone distant, and the way she was wringing her hands made her seem way more nervous than anything good could account for. "Hey," said Rei as she reached out and laid a hand lightly on Ami's arm. "What's going on? Why'd you come out here by yourself?"

"My mother," answered Ami vaguely. "I need to talk to Minako."

"Okay, I got the Minako part." She moved them to sit on the steps of the charm booth. "But what happened with your mom?"

Ami shook her head, though it was more to organize her thoughts than a refusal to answer. "She came by to see us this morning, with a request. Though it came out more as a demand."

"Oh, no," sighed Rei, immediately anticipating another crisis.

"It shouldn't be that bad," assured Ami quickly, though the words lacked confidence. "It probably won't be, but there are some details…"

"There always seems to be," smirked Rei. "So what's Makoto think about all of this – whatever it is?"

Ami's shoulders slumped. "Had it been worded differently, I don't think she'd be nearly as upset as she is. She was actually expecting much worse. But my mother… they don't understand each other. However," and here Ami shifted a bit uncomfortably, "my mother's request involved more than just me and Makoto. It's been extended to all of you, as well."

Color rose in Rei's face much as it had in Makoto's. "Ah, well, I'm happy she didn't exclude me," she said sarcastically. "So just what is it I'm being 'requested' to do?"

"A medical exam."

Rei blinked, her indignation stalling. "A check-up? That's it?"

Ami nodded. "Though I think there's a bit more to it than that. She used the words 'simple' and 'routine' too many times for it to truly be either." Ami looked away from Rei and stared out over the courtyard. "I hate to say this, but I don't trust my mother. She's not telling me something, and that something could potentially be very problematic."

Letting out a deep breath, Rei leaned forward on her knees. "Ami, I gotta admit that you telling me your mom lied to you is kinda scary."

"I didn't say she lied," returned Ami defensively. "Just that she left something out."

Rei's eyes cut over to Ami and she smirked. "Same difference."

"I know," admitted Ami reluctantly. "But the way I said it sounds better." She leaned back and let her head fall so she was staring up into frame of the wooden overhang. "I need to talk to Minako," she repeated.

"You have such a one-track mind," said Rei teasingly, and Ami couldn't help but smile just a bit. "Don't worry, she shouldn't be too much longer. You'll just have to put up with me until she gets back."

……………………

"Is she there?"

"Is who where?" asked Minako. She stared hard at her communicator and tried to figure out why Makoto was throwing cryptic questions at her in such an agitated state.

"Ami. Is she there?" repeated Makoto as she hefted Miki onto her shoulder so she could waggle a finger into the viewscreen. "And I don't care what she told you to say, don't you dare tell me she isn't if she is."

Minako's mouth opened and closed like a fish desperate for water. "Um, she's really not here, Mako-chan, but I'm not home. Was she going to the shrine?"

"Of course she was!" returned Makoto, and Minako could see the background shift as Miki was put into his stroller. The parking lot appeared as Makoto went on, "Where else would she go if she was looking for you. She said she had to talk to you, then left."

"Oh," answered Minako. Mentally she was screaming 'now what' and slamming her head against an invisible wall, but with genuine concern she asked, "What happened? I'll be home in just a few minutes if she waited for me. Are you guys okay?"

"Yeah, we're fine," said Makoto as she stopped at a corner and waited impatiently for the light to change. She didn't care who might see her talking into her communicator. In fact, she decided if anyone asked she would send them to Shibuya in search of their own just to get them out of her conversation. "But Ami's mom came to visit us this morning demanding we do exactly as she says, how she says, when she says. Boy are you gonna love this when you hear it…"

………………………

Minako stared at the steps in front of her and bit her lip. Realistically, she had no idea just how bad this new nugget of information really was. By the time they'd finished their brief conversation, Makoto was ready to amass an army to stop the evil mad scientist from performing Machiavellian experiments on all of them. But this was Makoto, and an upset Makoto at that. Minako could accept that maybe there was a bit of exaggeration in it all. Ami, though… She wished she had been able to talk to Ami first without Makoto having muddied the waters.

"Better not to know what's coming at you than to walk into it with an angry Jupiter at your heels," she muttered as she slowly ascended the steps. She wondered what she would find and had firmly convinced herself by the last step that Ami would be in tears, crumpled in Rei's arms, a mass of despondency. She would be strong, the leader she'd told Setsuna she wanted to be. And she would have Makoto and their army to back her up.

Then she heard Ami laugh.

The scenario that now involved a tank and a really big flag waving majestically in the sun crumpled contentedly away as Minako grinned at her own foolishness. She saw Ami and Rei sitting on the steps of the charm booth, Usagi having joined them sometime while she was gone. The blonde gestured wildly as she spoke, finally reaching to tug at one crooked ponytail. A hair disaster, Minako deduced as Rei rolled her eyes.

"Hey, guys," called Minako as she stepped up to them. "What'd I miss?"

Usagi barely had time to suck in a breath to start her story over before Rei blurted out, "Ami wants to talk to you." She gave the girl a nudge, then grinned widely. "She was pretty insistent and almost left when she found out you weren't here. Have I mentioned I'm the jealous type?"

Minako giggled, then reached for Ami and tugged her up. Linking their arms, she smiled back over her shoulder at Rei. "I like your jealous streak," she teased before putting some distance between them.

"I'm not always sure when she's playing," commented Ami as they stopped beneath a large tree at the far end of the courtyard.

Minako leaned against the tree, bending one knee so her foot rested against the trunk. "Neither am I, but I think we're okay this time." Ami's nervous fidgeting made her second guess that statement. "Or are we? What's going on?"

"I believe we – or most of us, at least – will be okay," began Ami. She explained in broad strokes the conversation she had had with her mother and what had been asked of them.

"You know," Minako said as Ami concluded, "you don't make it sound nearly as bad as Makoto did."

Ami startled. "You talked to Makoto."

Minako nodded. "Yeah. She called me looking for you when I was on my way home. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, but I wanted to hear things from you first, without her in the mix. She's on her way over, by the way."

"It's okay, and I'm not surprised," answered Ami. "But there is a bit more. The potentially problematic part of all of this." Her mini-computer materialized in her hands and she moved to stand beside Minako, holding the screen so they could both see. "Can you read any of this?"

The blonde shook her head as she watched two lines – one green and one yellow – scroll across ¾ of the screen. A slim chart on the left side displayed a series of characters that continuously changed, and above that the symbol for Venus glowed orange beside text that was as foreign to her as Rei's French textbook. "I recognize me," she said pointing to the symbol, "but that's it."

"It's easy enough for me to explain," went on Ami, her voice becoming that of a teacher trying to explain a troublesome math problem. "This particular screen is specific to us, Serenity's guard. Your name is here beside your planetary symbol. Beneath it is your birthday and blood type. I put those in for easy reference."

If Ami noticed Minako grin she didn't acknowledge it. Instead, she ran a finger along the steady green line that ran across the screen on a graph. "This line represents the amount of magical power we use. It will remain flat while you're in civilian form, but when you transform into Venus, it will track your power output." Then she traced along the gently rolling yellow line below the green one. "I'm not completely certain about this one, but I believe it represents potential power. It remains fairly constant regardless of what form we're in. This is one of two screens I use to track our well-being when we go into battle. This is the second." She tapped an icon and the information on the screen changed.

Minako stared hard at the screen as though she might finally be able to glean some information on her own. There was a small heart, and from the way it pulsed gently she assumed that would be the pulse rate or blood pressure, but that was about all she could decipher.

"These are our vitals," went on Ami. "Information from past scans is stored for cross-reference. Height, weight, gender, race, blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature – all of that is listed here, as well as personal information if it's available, up here." She lightly touched a square of information in the top left corner. "This is you – Aino Minako, female, Earthian. And the others," again the screen changed at her command, "Hino Rei, female, Earthian. Kino Makoto, female, Earthian. Kino Miki, male, Earthian." A few more screens passed in quick succession as she read off the information for their friends until she stopped and licked her lips nervously. "Meioh Setsuna, female, Plutonian. Tomoe Hotaru, female, Saturian."

"Oh. Um, well…" frowned Minako, believing she saw the problem but not having any idea how to respond.

"I have a theory," volunteered Ami.

"Please," answered Minako gratefully. "Because this isn't something I ever even thought to think about."

"I wouldn't have either if the information hadn't handed itself to me," replied Ami. "But in thinking about it, I've come to theorize that when the queen sent us forward – all of us, including Saturn, and I'll get back to that in a moment – she sent us to be reborn. Except for Pluto, who was sent to the Gates. While we were reborn as humans to human parents, Pluto was not. She is who she has always been."

Minako sighed. "Yeah, that makes sense. But what about Saturn. You think she was sent forward with us but…" She cut herself off, not sure how to explain that it was impossible.

"I do believe she was," picked up Ami. She scrolled through several more screens in an attempt to illustrate her point. "I had the opportunity to scan her once, not long after Chibi-usa first met her. It was after one of her seizures, done to monitor her health rather than out of curiosity, and only that once. She scanned as an unidentified human female. It wasn't until they returned with her that she began to register as something other than human. With her, I theorize the event with Pharaoh 90 caused a second rebirth, eliminating the human Hotaru and returning her to the Saturn we knew in the past. On a cursory level, though, we are all the same. Both she and Setsuna would be indistinguishable from other humans, unless…"

"Unless what?" asked Minako, disliking this conversation more with every passing second.

"I don't know how they would read on a genetic level," admitted Ami. "I don't know what current technology would try to label them as or even if it could. But my mother isn't a geneticist. There's not really anything she could do on her own besides a battery of basic medical tests." She turned from Minako then and shut down her computer. As it disappeared into her subspace pocket, she said quietly, "However, when we were away, she said she felt like she didn't know who I was anymore. While this contradicts my belief that she wouldn't put any of us in harms way, I do fear how far she would go to get an answer to that question."

"And I suppose just talking to you wouldn't solve that for her?"

Ami shook her head.

"Well," sighed Minako, stretching her arms up over her head, "I guess it's a good thing Setsuna said I could come over any time I wanted. Have you ever said anything to her, or maybe Michiru?"

"No. It was a private matter, and until now it hasn't impacted our situation."

"Maybe it still won't," returned Minako optimistically. "Come on, I think Makoto's here."

Ami followed her back up the courtyard, a reluctant step behind. Makoto was indeed there, and when their eyes met, there was an angry distance she wasn't used to. Usagi, though, saved her from an uncomfortable moment.

The blonde pulled herself away from Miki and hurried over to Ami. Grasping her hands dramatically, she said with heartfelt conviction, "Don't worry, Ami, we'll do whatever it is you need us to. Even though I really don't like needles, but I'm sure you'll give me some kind of sweet to help with the agony and torture your mom's gonna put us through. But I'd do it even if you didn't, we all will, won't we," she rambled out, turning bright blue eyes to her friends for confirmation.

Rei sighed and scratched at the back of her neck. "I guess that's that."

"Yeah, it is," replied Minako. She gently extricated Usagi from Ami, saying, "Come on. We're going to visit Haruka, and I want you to do that same thing you just did."

"What thing?" asked Usagi, blinking in confusion.

"Don't worry, you'll know when we get there."

"Hey," interjected Rei before they could go anywhere. "You just got home. When do I get to find out why you left to begin with."

"When I get back, I promise," said Minako apologetically. "Oh, and that other stuff…"

"When you get home," said Rei with a soft grin. Then she tacked on as a light warning, "But don't take a long time cause you think I'll forget or let it go until tomorrow. I won't."

Minako smiled back, grateful. Then she gave Usagi a slight tug and headed forward to one more conversation she didn't want to have.

……………………

The day had ended quietly – perhaps too quietly. Little to nothing had been said between them on the walk home or as Makoto laid out a small dinner neither of them did much more than pick at. Even Miki seemed more subdued than normal as he was fed and bathed.

And all Ami wanted to do was crawl into a dark corner to cry. As it was, her bed had to do.

Beneath the covers, she listened as Makoto put Miki in his crib. Soft words tapered into almost silent steps, then the bed shifted under Makoto's weight as she sat on the edge of the bed and fussed with the covers. When she settled, she lay on her side turned away from Ami. Her breathing never fell into the easy pattern of sleep, though, so Ami waited. It took a bit longer than she'd thought it would, but finally Makoto's voice broke the heavy silence that was hanging over them.

"You walked out," she said softly. "We were in the middle of something important and you just left."

"I had to talk to Minako," answered Ami weakly.

Makoto turned over and glared at her. "Yeah, you said that. A lot. But that was all you said. _And then you walked out_," repeated Makoto, putting emphasis on the part that was bugging her the most.

"I'm sorry," said Ami apologetically. "I couldn't think of anything else to do at that point."

"So are you ever gonna tell me just what it was that sent you running like that?"

Ami hesitated just a little too long.

"Fine," bit out Makoto. She started to turn away, but was stopped by a hand grasping her nightshirt.

"Don't, Mako-chan, please," began Ami. She scooted over until they were touching and she pressed her face between the pillow and Makoto's shoulder. "I don't know what to say, or what I can say."

"Just tell me why you left in the middle of our conversation," said Makoto pointedly. "It's not that difficult to answer."

"You were yelling," murmured Ami.

"I always yell!" returned Makoto in a frustratedly loud whisper. "Was that it?"

"No." Ami turned her head so she could see Makoto's face. "But we weren't having a conversation, and what my mother had presented was creating a potential problem that I needed to deal with."

"You're not going to tell me what that problem is, are you?"

Ami shook her head. "I can't. It's not my place."

"Does it involve us or Miki?"

Again, Ami shook her head.

"Okay, I can accept that, then. But next time tell me that much _before_ you go running off." Makoto reached around and pulled Ami more comfortably against her. "I'm still angry at your mother, and I'm going to be for awhile. I just don't like that she came in here the way she did or the way she spoke down to us, and I'm only going along with this because Usagi said we would. But you know all that, right?"

"Yes," answered Ami as she hugged Makoto tightly. "I don't want things like this Mako-chan. I don't want any of this."

"Me, neither. But your mom will get what she wants, and I still like her, so eventually I'll stop being angry." Makoto sighed. "Eventually, everything's going to go back to normal."

Ami snuggled in and let the quiet wrap around them. Everything back to normal. She didn't believe it for a second.

* * *

**_Characters from Silver Millennium Series_**

Aria - Jupiter: Leader, Makoto's sister

Rory - Venus: Second in command, Minako's aunt

Khita – Mars, Rei's cousin

Jessa – Mercury, Ami's aunt

Neisei – Neptune, Michiru's cousin

Koubi – Uranus, Haruka's cousin


	2. Traveling Blind

"The Ghosts of Dreams We Left Behind"

by

Crawlspace

* * *

**_Chapter 2: Traveling Blind_**

Setsuna had pulled the music box out with the intention of using it as means to help her illustrate a point. Now, though, as she sat on the end of her bed with the small wooden box in her hands, she began to think better of the idea. Perhaps there was another, less personal way to say, "We're different."

Lightly she traced a finger over the intricate geometric patterns carved into the top of the box. She could still see her baby sister's face the day the box had been given as a good-bye gift, those beautiful little eyes red from crying but a proud smile on her face because all on her own she had gotten Setsuna something special to remind her of home. So she wouldn't be so lonely while she was away serving the Moon's queen. A melancholy smile touched Setsuna's lips as she gently lifted the lid. Her memories heard the tinny waltz even though the music had long ago ceased to play. She remembered how bitterly she had cried when the first tine on the gears had broken away, as if she were losing Inara all over again. And when the studded drum finally turned for the last time, the quiet sense of acceptance someone two thousand years later would term as defeat.

From atop the silk lining in the box, she lifted a photograph that was bent at the edges but otherwise lovingly and painstakingly preserved. A grown Inara smiled at her looking more like a happy child than a newly crowned queen as she cuddled the kitten that had been a coronation gift from Serenity. Their brother stood beside her in his military uniform obviously far less pleased with a gift he saw more as a fuzzy rodent than a royal companion. Driden never did share Inara's fascination with the Moon's creatures. He had always been much more interested in Venus. Setsuna laughed softly as she lay the picture aside to continue her original search. She ignored the glimmer of a silver band and the delicacy of a blond curl tied in a lacy pink ribbon, instead reaching for the two pendants twined together against the side of the box.

The silver chains were tangled a bit more than they should have been and bore just a bit of tarnish, but the pendants were just as bright and polished as they had been the day they were put around their recipients' necks. Setsuna held them up and watched them slowly untangle from each other. The bedside light glinted off of them, the raised image of the Goddess alternating with the symbols for Pluto and Saturn.

_"My dearest Setsuna… I don't know what else to do, and I know Serenity won't overlook this, but remember no matter what happens that I love you…"_

Tears pricked at her eyes without manifesting as she watched Saturn's pendant turn, trying to find its way free of hers. She had forgiven Hotaru, had obeyed her queen and gone on, because she had no other choice…

_"You can't! She did it for you! If she's still alive… Let her come back!"_

The defiant girl who had risked her own banishment had disappeared long ago…

_Pluto stood on the precipice, her face to the wind. The storm roiled overhead as she held her staff to the bruised and violent sky, the voice of Chronos answering back with a thunderous force, a kinder warning than her Goddess would give…_

The pendants were practically thrown back into the box and quickly covered with the photo, the lid coming down harder than she'd intended. There was a better way to make her point.

A knock at the door distracted her from trying to find that better way, and she looked up seeming somewhat confused. Before she could collect her thoughts to answer, another knock sounded, followed by, "Setsuna-mama! I know I took a long time to brush my teeth, but you should still be awake!"

Setsuna let out a long breath and let a small smile touch her lips. This was the Hotaru she was most comfortable with. "Come in," she called, sounding just a touch raspy.

The door opened and Hotaru poked her head into the room, the mint green strap from her pajama top falling down her shoulder. "I knew you didn't go to bed this early, but Haruka-papa called you old," she snitched with a grin. Then a wide smile lit up her face as she saw what Setsuna was holding. "Inara's music box! You still have it!"

With no time to react as Hotaru ran over to her, Setsuna could only watch as the child quickly raised the lid.

"It doesn't play anymore," lamented Hotaru, her excitement dimming.

"No," answered Setsuna as she reclosed the lid and moved to put the box away before its contents could be questioned. "Even the best of Plutonian mechanisms eventually stops working. But it still serves its purpose." She tucked the box away behind a folded blanket on her closet shelf, then turned back to Hotaru. "I was beginning to think you were avoiding me because you were taking so long. Those teeth better be pearly white and minty fresh."

Hotaru gave her a toothy grin to prove her efforts, then giggled. "My teeth fear no one." The she took a deep breath and stood straighter, more serious than she had been. "But I'm ready to talk now, Setsuna."

"Good," replied Setsuna, either ignoring or not noticing the way she'd been addressed. She moved back over to the bed and patted the spot beside her. "Because I want to discuss something about tomorrow."

Hotaru's shoulders slumped and she frowned. "Tomorrow? But I thought…" Then she shook her head and scooted up on the bed beside Setsuna. Her mother. "Are we still going to see Ami's mom?"

Setsuna nodded. "We can't back out now, I'm afraid. But there was some concern for the two of us from Minako."

"Is that why the two of you disappeared together when she and Usagi came over last week?"

"Yes. Ami found out something about us that she had to tell Minako," went on Setsuna. She stroked a hand over Hotaru's hair, then took her chin in her fingers and grinned at the girl, as if she were about to share an interesting secret. "You and I are different, you know. We don't belong to this world."

Hotaru nodded, and Setsuna's fingers slipped away. "I know I'm not human anymore, because of what happened with the professor. I don't really think about it all that much, though." She held her hands up in front of her eyes and stared at them. "Not that it really matters, but I liked getting away from all of that. Or at least pretending that I had."

"All of _that_ has been left far behind you," said Setsuna firmly. She pulled the child into a loose hug. "But I'm sorry to have to take the idea of humanity away from you."

"Why are we talking about this, though?" asked Hotaru. She pulled away and looked pointedly at Setsuna. "Minako said we were getting check-ups, and you nodded and said the same thing. If you're telling me this now because of tomorrow, then someone isn't telling the whole truth about what's really going on. Is Makoto right? Is Ami's mom really a mad scientist?"

"She is not a mad scientist," answered Setsuna. She smiled reassuringly, finding the idea that Makoto so seriously put forth amusing, regardless of the seed of truth it held. "There's the possibility for concern, but Minako did tell us the truth. Or at least the truth as she knows it."

"And we're going?"

"Yes." Setsuna sighed. "You know they come to me with these concerns looking for concrete answers and reassurance. They think I know more than I do, and none of them realize either my limits or just how fickle and fluid the flow of time really is. I honestly don't know if tomorrow is the next step, a boulder falling into the middle of the road, or a breeze over the open ocean that will never reach the shore. But you and I will be ready, one way or the other."

Hotaru looked doubtful. She hadn't wanted to go do this to begin with, because in spite of the need she felt to help and heal others, she hated being the patient. Now this. But Usagi said they were going for Ami, and Setsuna had backed her up. She sighed, resigning herself to the matter. But, she thought to herself, in spite of how insignificant it really was, she was going to miss her humanity.

...

Despite a promise of sun, the morning sky couldn't seem to make up its mind what it wanted to do. Kaya spared a moment to stare out the window and watch the sun skirt in and out of the clouds. The shadows it created where an interesting pattern, and if she'd been of a more creative bent she may have found herself enthralled with the actual beauty of the day. Her mind was on other things, though, and one brightly colored bird was all she needed to see before her scientific bent pulled her back to her task.

She hated the waiting, but the girls would be here soon and they could get all of this over with. She had decided the house would be the best choice for the job. If they had gone to her office at the hospital or tried to transport the samples from there too many questions could be asked. Here, all of them – including Fredrick – could come and go without it seeming odd.

Kaya futzed with a stand of vials, all of them numbered and color coded to match the file folders stacked on her desk. Fredrick wasn't scheduled to arrive until late this evening, provided he hadn't spontaneously changed his flight plans. And Ken… he was already worried about her and being just a little paranoid about her sudden distance. She couldn't blame him, and though she would love him for it, the last thing she actually wanted was for him to show up in the middle of all of this on some misguided mission to make her happy. She didn't think she could explain well enough to make any of them understand.

A glass tube with a black and white checkered label slipped from her fingers, shattering as it hit the floor. A rare curse passed her lips as she pulled a dust pan from the closet and bent to sweep up the remains of the vial she'd labeled for herself. She'd need to find another quickly.

...

Ami bounced Miki on her lap and ignored the tense, empty space that had formed around them on the crowded bus. Makoto's unhappy scowl and the way she sat with one leg crossed over her knee and her arms tightly folded had the other passengers preferring to stand rather than sit near them. Not that Ami really minded. Today she just wasn't in the mood to be polite to strangers.

The bus came to their stop and Makoto reached for the baby as they stood. It was a bit awkward moving with the umbrella stroller through the crowd, but again people seemed to make an effort to get out of their way. Ami sighed to herself. She was tired. Just very simply tired.

Her mother had told her to have them meet at the house. It would be considerably more private than the hospital and in the middle of the week people traffic would be at a minimum. So here they were, on a cloudy and humid Wednesday morning, bad tempers showing, and about to crowd into a make-shift clinic in her mother's home office.

"Hey, guys."

The call lacked enthusiasm, and they turned around to see Rei and Minako trudging up the block behind them.

"Hey," called back Makoto, their steps slowing to allow their friends to catch up.

Luna and Artemis followed at their heels, and Ami bent to pick up the black cat.

"I think we're best equipped to answer any questions your mother might pose," said Luna when Ami showed some surprise at their presence.

"Unless you completely freak her out," returned Rei. "You know, I have to give her some credit. A weaker person would have cracked under all this. Ow!" she yelped loudly as Minako's elbow landed in her ribs. "Well it's true!"

Makoto huffed. "I think she's already cracked and these are just the symptoms. Sorry, babe," she added apologetically as she glanced at Ami.

"No, it's okay," returned Ami. "But she hasn't 'cracked.' This is normal for her. It's just how she is."

"Well, whoever and whatever," piped in Minako as she moved so she was walking a step ahead of them, "we're getting this over with and this weekend, we are going to have fun. This is our last real summer, and as our youth is fleeting, I'm not going to let us all waste it on being depressed."

"Feeling optimistic, are we?" jabbed Makoto with a smirk.

"Maybe," answered Minako with a wide smile.

Rei chuckled. "Let's see how optimistic she's feeling when I remind her we saw Haruka's car parked outside the house in the only free parking spot on the block."

Ami sucked in a breath as her pace unintentionally quickened.

...

The tension in the room was so thick she could have cut out little strips of it with a scalpel. But Kaya pretended not to notice as she set out the tea service and handed out delicate china teacups to her guests. She faltered momentarily, though, at having to make a decision on where to direct conversation.

Her first option was a definite no. Haruka was very obviously not in the mood to make small talk.

Her second option – Michiru. Obviously the better choice in this situation, and she was probably well versed in how to conduct a civil conversation during awkward moments. However, she seemed to have her hands full at the moment acting as her partner's calm center.

Then there was Hotaru. Under other circumstances she would have enjoyed speaking to the child. This time, though, her mind conjured the conversation going along the lines of:

"So, Ami tells me you want to be a nurse."

"Oh, yes. You see, I can heal people and bring them back from the brink of death just by touching them due to a secret magical power I inherited from a millennias dead alien queen. I think it'd be the perfect profession for me!"

Kaya groaned internally. _Where_ was Ami and what was taking her so long?

With Setsuna her only real viable choice, Kaya settled into the last free chair in the living room and forced a smile.

"Mom!"

_Thank you, dear sweet lord! _

Kaya practically shot from the chair and hurried into the hallway to greet her daughter.

...

Ami dispensed with the usual pleasantries and politeness of returning home, instead throwing open the door, toeing off her shoes, and calling for her mother all in the span of one breath. Her mother was almost as quick, grabbing her into a tight, tense hug before her shouted "Mom!" had finished echoing in the foyer.

"I am so glad you're here," Kaya whispered against Ami's ear, noticeably relieved until she saw Makoto and the girls behind her. The tension returned as she offered a tight smile to the young women. "Good morning, girls."

Rei and Minako offered a polite nod and murmured hellos around Makoto's terse, "Hi." The white-knuckled grip Makoto kept on the stroller made Kaya take a nervous step back.

Luna and Artemis wound their way out from around everyone's feet to make an attempt at a polite greeting. "Good morning," said Luna pleasantly as she sat in front of Ami's feet.

Kaya blinked. "Um… hello. How… how are you?"

"Very well, thank you," answered Artemis.

"Usagi shouldn't be much longer," added Luna. "Mamoru was coming to pick her and Chibi-usa up. He should see to it that they're more or less on time."

"Oh. Well, good," returned Kaya, still not fully believing that she was discoursing with a pair of cats and hating that she couldn't come up with anything better to say to them. She paused a moment, waiting to see if they would offer anything else she could give a completely unintelligent response to. When they didn't, she turned her attention back to Ami. "Everyone else is here. Would you like to get started or should we wait for Usagi's group?"

Makoto bit back a rude response about actually being given a choice in the matter. Instead, she silently followed Ami's lead and lifted the baby from the stroller. Apparently, Ami thought it best if they go ahead and start.

"Ami, you can go first," began Kaya. "Then we'll move onto the children, so they don't have to wait." She moved toward her office, the unhappy group moving slowly behind her to line up outside the door.

Ami was sitting in her mother's desk chair with a thermometer in her mouth and a blood pressure cuff around her arm when the doorbell rang. "I'll get it!" called Minako from the back of the line. Then she added with a grin. "Don't want to keep her waiting since she's actually on time this time."

Kaya leaned in closer to Ami and said softly as she removed the thermometer, "I bought some candy for the children. Would it be too terribly condescending to offer Usagi some for also being a good patient?"

With a grin, Ami answered, "Not at all. I think she might actually be expecting it, though I don't promise you'll get a good patient."

"That's all right. I'm not expecting very many of those today, anyway." Kaya glanced over at Makoto, standing in the corner and holding her son protectively. No, she wasn't expecting much good today at all. A few notations were made in a file with a pale blue tab labeled "B." Then she reached for a thick needle and three blue stickered vials.

Makoto cringed and unconsciously tightened her grip on Miki, causing him to squirm uncomfortably. He began to mewl and signal his distress just as Usagi poked her head around the doorway. But before any words could pass her lips, the blonde paled, her bubbly greeting dying instantly away. Instead, she said dryly, "I'm gonna pass out."

"You big baby. It's not even your turn yet," called Rei from the hallway.

Usagi looked back over her shoulder, and in a wounded a voice, returned with "Rei, you meanie! I bet you haven't even _seen_ that needle yet!"

"It's not bad, Usagi, really," assured Ami as the vials filled. "I can't feel a thing. Honest."

"And it's quick," offered Ami's mom as she placed a thick pad of gauze over the insertion sight and pulled out the needle. "See, that's all I needed to do." She dropped the needle into a gray plastic canister and reached for a Band-Aid. When Ami was sufficiently patched up, Kaya put on as kind and reassuring a smile as she could muster and turned it on Usagi. "Okay, sweetheart, you're next. But I need help with something first, if you don't mind?"

Usagi's head tilted slightly to the side in suspicious contemplation. "What could _I_ help with?"

"In my desk drawer," answered Kaya bristling just a bit at the idea of talking to and treating this young woman as if she were a slow ten-year-old, but it was the means to an end, and since Usagi didn't seem to find offense in it… "The top one on the left."

"Oooo, chocolate!" exclaimed Usagi as she found the first bag. Then rummaging a little further, "And Tootsie Pops!"

In the hallway, Mamoru sighed softly in embarrassment as Chibi-usa pushed her way forward to make sure Usagi wasn't going to try and take her share of the bounty.

Michiru giggled, then smiled sweetly at Haruka. "You see, Haruka. If you're good, the doctor will give you a lolli."

Haruka scowled at her, her arms never moving from where they were tightly crossed over her chest.

Unfazed, Michiru pattered her arm. "Don't worry. I'll make sure she saves you a grape one."

Not to be left out, Rei piped in with, "I want a watermelon one!" She scooted up behind Chibi-usa in the doorway and looked pointedly at her princess. "Usagi, pull mine out now. Otherwise, between you and Chibi-usa, there won't be a scrap of pink in that bag by the time she gets to me."

"You can have my turn," offered Usagi as she continued to hold the candy bags almost as possessively as Makoto was holding Miki. "The sooner you go the sooner you'll get your lollipop," she tried to cajole, pulling one out and dangling it back and forth.

Ami slid from the chair and stepped over to Usagi. Very gently, she guided her friend over to the chair. "It's your turn, and you don't want Rei bragging that she was braver than you by going second, do you?" asked Ami.

Usagi shook her head a bit hesitantly. "No, but…"

"Good," replied Ami, giggling as the exchange earned an insulted grunt from Rei.

Admitting defeat and giving in to her fate, Usagi sighed. Then she remembered the bags she was holding and that she'd forgotten to do the thing Ami's mom had said she needed help with. Taking a second to rummage around in the bags, Usagi smiled widely and presented Ami with her prize. "Because you were a good patient."

"Thank you very much," answered Ami as she accepted the foil wrapped chocolates and lollipop. She tucked them away in the pocket of her shorts, then reached to take the bags from Usagi. "How about I hold these until you're finished?"

Usagi nodded, then squeezed her eyes tightly closed and thrust out her arm. "Okay, I'm ready."

Kaya took a deep breath and reached for the blood pressure cuff. She might have been amused by the girl's dramatics if the situation were a bit different and if Usagi didn't look like she was about to bite the thermometer in half. A few minutes more, and she was ready for her next patient.

Usagi cracked an eye, then blinked in surprise as a pad of gauze was pressed against her arm where the needle had been. "That's it?"

"That's it," answered Kaya, not fully meeting the girl's eyes.

Usagi looked almost disappointed. Not that she would say that in front of anyone, but she had really expected something more gruesome and life threatening. After all, if she was going to be a living test subject for a mad scientist, she really did think it should be a bit more interesting. However, a piece of chocolate was suddenly being held out in front of her, and in the grand scheme of things, that was really the priority.

She grinned and made a happy sound as the candy was handed to her. Turning to Chibi-usa, she grinned evilly. "Chibi-usa," she called in sing-song voice. "It's your turn."

The child held up her chin proudly even as she gripped Hotaru's hand. "That's fine," she answered as she and Usagi passed each other. "And I won't be a baby about it, either." She scooted onto the vacated chair, and as her blood pressure was taken, asked, "May I have a watermelon one?"

Kaya grinned at the child and promised her two as "Remember to save me one!" reverberated in the room.

Ami pocketed three as Rei stood unrepentant at her complete lack of shame.

It went almost uneventfully from there, with the exception of a withering glare from Makoto for making her child cry and total stubborn obstinacy from Haruka. Once she was done with them, the two had wound up in a corner of the living room, grousing together as the stick of a grape Tootsie Pop hung belligerently from Haruka's lips.

Rei half listened to Ami and her mother as she watched Minako. Standing at the far end of the room, the blonde spoke quietly to Setsuna while Michiru and Usagi occupied the children. Setsuna nodded, and a smile that seemed mostly relief appeared on Minako's lips. Then her blue eyes looked over and met Rei's, and the grin changed to the happiness Rei much preferred seeing. Something else was said, then Minako moved back over to her wife.

Rei tilted her head in Setsuna's direction. "So, what was that little whisper session all about?"

"Remember that arts festival and concert I told you about? The one HMP is sponsoring?" asked Minako, getting a nod in response. "We all need to get away from this mess for awhile, do something fun and completely mindless. The festival this weekend seemed like a good way to do that."

"And you talked Setsuna into corralling her charges along, huh?" smirked Rei.

Minako smiled proudly. "It'll be good for them. For us, too." Then she sighed. "I want to have fun again."

Putting an arm around her shoulders, Rei offered up a caramel-filled chocolate. "We will. It may take some of us a little longer than others, but we'll get back to that again."

Minako relaxed into Rei's side and carefully unwrapped her candy. "If you say it, I believe it. Because no matter how dastardly my Rei-chan is, she always tells me the truth."

Rei chuckled. "Your Rei-chan takes exception to being called dastardly, but yeah, she'll always tell you the truth."

...

The arts festival had grown exponentially from the small show Tokyo University had begun planning just over a year ago to the now sprawling event Higano Music Productions and its various affiliates had produced. Every segment of the School of Fine Arts was represented, backed up by representatives from the music and TV industry. On one side of the park, a stage had been set up for amateur musicians and would later in the evening be turned into a free Nakusu Ai concert. Aspiring writers gathered for readings and workshops, while video editors and camera operators gave demonstrations. There were more artists offering free sketches and caricatures than anyone could count, and areas had been set aside for the university sponsored youth programs to offer painting, sculpting, and basic photography lessons.

Tomoko found she was enjoying all of the excitement around her. And the food was pretty good, too.

The young author smiled at the little girl who looked at her with adoring green eyes. She moved the book she was trying to autograph just a smidge to the right to keep the child's ice cream from dripping onto it, and asked the girl her name. An answer was given shyly, and with that information, Tomoko opened the book to the title page. Beneath the silhouette of a wing, she wrote, "To Lirio. Always follow your dreams and one day you'll find your Pegasus. Takase Tomoko." Beside her name she doodled a smiley face with glasses, then handed the book to the child's father.

As they walked away, she sat back in her chair and closed her eyes, letting the images from her dreams play out into cohesive thoughts. She only had a moment, though, before the sound of footsteps over gravel interrupted her sequel. _Back to work_, thought Tomoko with a genuinely happy smile.

It was a teenager this time, about the same age as she was, toting along her little brother. The boy didn't stand out particularly with his dark hair in a bowl cut and a fresh chocolate stain on his Power Ranger's t-shirt. His sister, however, was not the typical type her Pegasus series attracted. Tomoko tried not to stare at the silver stud in the girl's nose or the black teardrop tattooed at the side of her eye as a book was enthusiastically thrust at her. A long lock of burgundy hair was brushed aside revealing a thin silver chain that began at a loop in the curve of one ear, draped down to brush her shoulder, and came back up to stop at a ruby stud in her earlobe. Which just happened to nicely match the ruby studded eyes of the smiling skull and crossbones that hung from the other ear.

Tomoko swallowed hard.

If the girl had noticed any of her discomfort, she gave no indication of it. Instead, she launched excitedly into fangirl mode. "I'm so glad to finally meet you, Takase-san! I bought your first book the week it came out and have been hooked ever since! Oh, and you just have to write another sequel! I know this one just came out, but there are so many possibilities!"

Tomoko smiled widely as she finished putting the glasses on the smiley face beside her signature. There was always more story to tell, but her publisher had schooled her quickly in how to relay things to her fans. It was okay to tease them a bit, to give them vague hints, but never promise anything and never give them any details. Tomoko hated it because she could have spent hours talking about the images and dreams she saw when she closed her eyes. But she understood the necessity of it, so all she could do was smile coyly and offer a noncommittal, "Perhaps. Now that you mention it, I could see some possibilities there."

The girl squealed and clapped her hands, but before she could say anything else, her little brother's attention veered off. She lost her grip on him, and before she could stop him, he was several yards away and quickly going further.

"August, stop!" the girl yelled after the boy as he disappeared into the crowd. She cursed and ran after him, Tomoko quickly forgotten.

"Your book!" Tomoko called, but her voice didn't carry nearly as far as she needed it to. The author shrugged and set the book to the side. The girl would return, she reasoned, once she had captured her errant charge. In the meantime…

Leaning back in her chair, Tomoko relaxed, the images there before she'd even closed her eyes. But something caught her attention and pulled her consciousness back to reality. She had to do a double-take to convince herself what she was seeing was true. A huge grin lit up her face as she stood and started jogging towards her long-lost beta reader.

"Makoto!" called Tomoko, catching the other girl off guard. If her friend hadn't been holding such a tiny baby, Tomoko wouldn't have stopped until her arms were around her. As it was, she stopped just short of that so they were toe to toe, her smiling like a madwoman and Makoto shocked into silence. "I can't believe it," went on Tomoko happily. "How are you? And why don't I ever hear from you after you promised you would stay in touch?"

Makoto smiled, albeit a bit stunned by the sudden appearance of her friend. Ami grinned at her curiously as Makoto answered contritely, "You know I was never good at communication, Tomoko. And there's been a lot going on. But I'm doing pretty good. How 'bout you?"

"Better than ever," replied Tomoko. "My publisher has me here signing autographs for book three. Book three, Makoto, and I had to give it to my editor without you."

An apology got her a grin, then bespectacled blue eyes focused on Miki and she held out a finger for him to grasp. "And who's this little guy. You are just the cutest thing, aren't you?" she cooed.

Miki burbled and squirmed happily, enjoying the attention of his new admirer.

For Makoto, though, there was just a touch of hesitation before she answered. The type that comes from waiting too long to tell a friend something important and getting caught before you ever get around to it. With a nervous sort of chuckle, she answered, "Well, this is Miki. My son."

Tomoko's eyes widened in surprise. "Really?"

Makoto nodded.

"Why didn't you tell me?" asked Tomoko, her attention going back to the baby. "Your mother really is bad at communication. But you are just too precious," she went on softly, giving his belly a tickle. "And I bet you make your mama very happy."

"He does," verified Makoto. "And so does his other mama."

Tomoko looked up almost as if she were seeing Ami for the first time. She blinked, then looked pointedly at Makoto. "You really haven't told me anything in a long time." Then she turned and bowed politely to Ami. "Forgive my rudeness. My name is Takase Tomoko, and I used to go to school with Makoto. I haven't seen her in so long and was so surprised… I'm sorry, I should have introduced myself first."

Ami returned the bow and answered, "It's quite all right, and I completely understand. I also sympathize. She truly is terrible at telling people the things she should in a timely manner."

"Hey, hey," shot back Makoto in mock annoyance. "We've known each other for equal amounts of time and there was no communicating on your part, either. But enough of that or Tomoko will turn us into her next novel."

Tomoko giggled. "You should be a novel, Makoto. But to do that I have to talk to you for awhile, and the best way would be for the three of you to join me for dinner. Were you going to stay for the concert?"

Before Makoto could answer, her name was once again called out across the park. They all turned to see Usagi waving enthusiastically in their direction, a piece of sketch paper clutched in her hand. Minako, Rei, and Haruka followed her, and Makoto noted that Rei looked just a touch cross.

"I wouldn't mind getting together," answered Makoto finally, "but I'm with a pretty large group right now." She chuckled. "And a couple of them are pretty big fangirls of yours."

"I wouldn't mind their company if they wouldn't mind mine," grinned back Tomoko. "Is the little girl with you? The one with the pink pigtails?"

Makoto nodded. "She and a friend with her friend's mothers. They stopped to paint or sculpt or something, but should be meeting back up with us soon."

"Good. I may have something special for her when I see you all tonight."

Makoto raised an eyebrow quizzically just as Usagi and the others caught up to them. The sketch the blonde had been carrying was presented with a wide smile.

"Isn't it great!" gushed Usagi. "He did one for all of us." Then she chuckled. "You should see Minako and Rei's."

"No, she shouldn't," returned Rei pointedly. "Just let her enjoy yours."

In other company Makoto would have had some fun with that, but not wanting to embarrass anyone, she looked over Usagi's picture. It was a caricature with the head three times as big as the body, the tiny torso wearing overalls and rollerblades. Little hearts, stars, and bunny faces littered the background and matched the decorations on a helmet Makoto knew they'd have a hard time getting the real Usagi to wear.

"I like it," smiled Makoto. "You may have to take me to get one…" She tried to hand the picture back, but Usagi's attention had already wandered.

Usagi's eyes narrowed as she studied the newcomer, then grew wide as the last drop of recognition splashed down on her. "Oh my gosh! I know you!"

Tomoko blushed even as her eyes lit up at the excited recognition of a fan.

Usagi was quickly joined by Minako, and Tomoko tried as valiantly as she could to keep up with the rapid fire questions. She was quickly losing that battle, though, when a dark haired beauty stepped in to rescue her.

Stepping between the author and her fangirls, Rei cleared her throat loudly and took command of the situation. "You two are such amateurs. And never prepared," she said haughtily right before pulling three pristine copies of Tomoko's book from her bag.

"How did you know to bring those?" questioned Minako, her hands on her hips as she frowned at her wife.

"I planned ahead," returned Rei, giving them both self-satisfied smirks. Then she turned to Tomoko and inclined her head politely. "Takase-san, if it wouldn't be too much of a bother…"

"Not at all." Tomoko took the books and grinned as a permanent ink pen was also handed over. "It was nice of you to bring copies for your friends."

Minako huffed. "Not likely. Let me tell you exactly what those are for." She straightened up and wagged her finger in imitation of Rei. "You must have one copy for reading, one for letting friends borrow, and one for safe storage in plastic."

Ami giggled and Makoto nodded. She adjusted the baby higher on her shoulder and said, "Yeah, that's about right. But I want to know how you knew she was going to be here and I didn't. Especially since she's _my_ friend."

"I told you, I always plan ahead." Then she pulled a folded piece of paper from the pocket of her jeans. "And I got this flyer off my windshield at the Quik-E-Mart the other day."

"Hey, abandoned and forgotten back here," piped up Haruka, raising her hand to get their attention. "I still don't know who she is."

"Sorry, sorry," apologized Makoto as she hurried to make introductions.

In the course of it all, Tomoko found herself beside Ami, something to which she normally wouldn't have given any thought to. However, after a minute or two, she felt the speculative gaze of two sets of blue eyes burning holes into both of them. She shifted just a touch uncomfortably as Minako came over and tapped Makoto on the shoulder.

Makoto looked at her as if she'd lost her mind and was asking the stupidest questions she could think of after Minako whispered in her ear. But, undeterred, Minako insisted until Makoto relented. "Okay, fine, they're in Miki's diaper bag. Just don't break them. And shouldn't you maybe ask her first?"

Minako waved that off and grabbed Ami's glasses from the bag. She stepped over and carefully placed them on Ami's face, then jogged back over to Usagi. Identical expressions of observation preceded nods of agreement.

Rei frowned at both of them. "What are you two doing?"

Usagi waved her over and whispered into her ear. Rei's eyes widened just a bit in surprise, then she looked over at Tomoko and Ami. Her head tilted and she took on a thoughtful expression as her thumb tapped against her lips. The she shrugged. "Okay, you guys are right."

"About what?" asked Haruka, ignoring Makoto's growing indignation.

"C'mere," responded Rei. When Haruka was beside her, she waved a finger between Ami and Tomoko. "See it?"

Haruka looked, then squinted to try and look harder. "What am I looking for?"

"A resemblance," supplied Rei.

Shaking her head, Haruka held up her hands in defeat. "Nope, don't see it."

"How can you not see it?" asked Minako in annoyance. She took Haruka's arm and moved her a few steps closer. "Here, look again."

"No! No more looking," ordered Makoto as she handed the baby to Ami so she could step between them. "The only thing the four of you are going to start looking for is Michiru and the others." Then she turned around to face Tomoko. "Sorry about that. My friends have these moments of insanity that are really hard to predict."

Tomoko smiled, finding herself amused by them. "It's okay. I think I like them."

"Ha, you hear that," threw out Minako. "She likes us!"

Makoto sighed. "Well, now you've done it. They think they're friends with someone famous."

"Then all of you must have dinner with me. Just meet me back here around five this evening and I'll see if my publisher can come up with any goodies."

"I don't think you know what you're getting yourself into," chuckled Makoto. "But we'll be back at five."

Tomoko smiled widely at the promise and hugged her friend. They parted, and with Miki tucked back into his stroller, they went in search of the rest of their group. "Okay," she finally asked when Tomoko was out of earshot. "What was all that about?"

Usagi grinned. "You have a type, Mako-chan."

"A what? What are you talking about?" She glanced down at Ami and realized she was still wearing her glasses. A light blush touched her cheeks. "You've been out in the sun too long. Both of you."

"For what it's worth, I still don't see it," offered Haruka.

"Hey, who's the love goddess here," interjected Minako proudly. "And I'm telling you Mako-chan has a type. Whether she'll admit it or not," she finished with a grin.

Rei followed her love's pronouncement with some amusement, but just as Minako launched into the full explanation of how she knew all of this, something tickled at the back of her consciousness. Her pace slowed as she tried to hear, and in her mind's eye she saw the wispy black tendrils begin to wrap around an orb of deep burgundy…

And then they all came to a sudden halt as a high pitched scream rang out.

That one scream lead to another, and within seconds a panicked crowd was rushing towards them.

"What is it? Can you see?" asked Minako hurriedly as the girls pushed against the crowd and tried to get out of the way.

Ami had grabbed the baby and Makoto had grabbed both of them, letting Ami use her as support to stay upright. The taller girl stretched up to try and see as they moved sideways. "I can't see… No! Tomoko!"

Haruka spotted it as she pulled Usagi out of the path of the fleeing mob. A large rectangle that looked like a book, the cover gradients of purple with the outline of a Pegasus against a full moon had sprouted a head and limbs and had backed Makoto's friend into a corner of the autograph booth. The oddly shaped head on the youma was painted white and purple with garish blue eyeshadow highlighting large, brown eyes. Spiky black hair wore an out-of-place silver ribbon that matched the stripes on its arms and legs. Talon-like purple nails glittered as the demon tome moved closer to the author.

"Venus Crystal Power…"

"Mars Crystal Power…"

Haruka looked over just in time to see a flash of light emanate from behind the display booths. She muttered to herself as she shoved Usagi towards Makoto. She had no idea how those two had gotten over there so quickly, and she hated being one step behind.

Makoto, meanwhile, had taken the baby from Ami and now found herself in the unfamiliar position of not having any idea what to do next. Ami needed to go, and she needed to save Tomoko before that thing did any damage to her, but Miki… Then Usagi was shoved up against her as Haruka sprinted off in the direction Venus and Mars were emerging from.

Another scream, and Makoto watched in horror as the possessed book leaned over Tomoko and called forth a brilliantly shining spark of light from the girl's chest. The golden glow drifted forward toward a notebook size computer pad the youma held as Tomoko went limp and crumpled to the ground.

"Deep Submerge!"

The youma startled and looked up just in time to be hit with a wall of water. It was picked up off its feet and carried, taking part of the booth with it, until it hit the nearest tree hard enough to knock down several branches. The golden spark that had been pulled from Tomoko's chest fell to the ground beside the girl, pulsing in time to her heartbeat.

"Mako-chan?" Usagi looked up at her friend, not quite sure what to ask, but waiting for an answer nonetheless.

Before Makoto could find an answer, one came running to her in the form of Chibi-usa. The girl was one step behind the guardian cats, and Luna called sternly, "What are you three doing? Transform!"

Usagi gave a decisive nod, more than willing to follow directions. Her hesitation came only with Makoto's. Thinking she might understand, she gently reached for Miki and carefully pulled him from Makoto's grasp. Handing him down to Chibi-usa, she ordered softly, "Protect him, the three of you."

The move did nothing to assuage Makoto, and she nearly turned around to reclaim her son as Usagi pulled them away.

"He'll be okay," assured Usagi. "You have friend who needs your help right now."

As if to illustrate the point, Venus yelped as she was tossed across the now empty concessions area, her Love Me Chain losing its grip on its target and flickering out. Mars' eyes lit up with a deadly flame, and her bow aimed true… only to fire wide as her arm was grazed by three small projectiles that lodged into a metal flagpole several yards away.

"What the hell!" exclaimed Mars, grasping onto her bleeding arm. "Where did that come from?"

The youma didn't deign to answer, instead charging forward, a deep throated "Chu Chu!" issuing from its purple lips. It barely slowed down as the crackle of static tickled between its pages as Jupiter appeared from behind. But as the lightening from a Supreme Thunder rained down upon it, it fell to its knees, singed and smoldering.

"Where's Sailormoon?" bellowed Uranus. "Let's get this over with!"

Hearing her name, Sailormoon startled, looking up from her newest charges. "I have to hurry and help my friends," she murmured, the spark pulsing in her cupped palms. She smiled at the little boy she had pulled from the fray. "Don't worry. We'll fix everything. You just stay hidden, okay?" She carefully returned the spark to Tomoko, sighing in relief as it shimmered and faded away over the girl's heart, then hurried over to join her friends in battle.

The little boy with ice cream on his Power Rangers t-shirt frowned as he watched her go, then scurried away under the fabric wall of what was left of the booth. Roku was going to be angry with this interruption and at him for not grabbing the author's Creative Spark while he had the chance. Better to let her finish this fight on her own, to buy himself some time.

As the boy hurried to disappear, Sailormoon rejoined her friends, stopping beside Mercury. Mercury's visor was down, and she could hear the tiny beeps of information being collected even as Mercury stood poised to attack. A second later, Pluto was at her opposite side asking, "Ready?"

With a glance over at Mercury, to which she received a curt nod, Sailormoon answered, "Yes," as she held up her Moon Power Tier. Taking a deep breath, she focused the energy she could feel building within her and called out loudly, "Silver Moon… Crystal Power Kiss!"

The youma's unnaturally large eyes grew even rounder as it was surrounded by beams of golden light, then overtaken by waves of the softest feathers it could ever know. With the feathers came a storm of warmth and sparkling silver light, and within that, a voice. The youma could no longer fight, it had to give up and felt no loss in doing so. As it closed its eyes and let its head fall back, it felt the final push of defeat and called out, "Muse-ing!" before vanishing in a powdery, gray haze.

Venus limped over with some help from Saturn. Standing beside Mars, she watched as an inkwell fell to the ground, its black contents spilling into the grass…

Chisato flicked off her viewscreen in disgust, her deep frown reflecting back at her in the now black screen. They had needed the author badly, whether _he_ would admit it or not. Behind her in the dark room, she could sense the rough drawings on the storyboard fade away, and as she walked out with her heels clicking roughly against the floor, she heard the board fall and crack into dust.


	3. Times Like These

"The Ghosts of Dreams We Left Behind"

by

Crawlspace

* * *

_**Chapter 3: Times Like These**_

Minako tapped the small metal stylus against the desktop, careful not to prick her fingers on the sharp pointed end. After the battle as things were calming down, they had pulled all three of the metal projectiles from the flagpole they had lodged into after slicing across Rei's arm. Ami had taken one with her, and after spending the better part of two days analyzing it every way she could think of, she had called Minako with less than enthusiastic news.

"It's titanium," Ami said into her communicator. "But that's it. It's just a very sharp, titanium stylus."

Minako pursed her lips and thought for a moment. They were missing something, they had to be. "What about the inkwell?" she asked, thinking back to the object that had cracked and turned to black powder seconds after Mercury had begun scanning it.

"Just ink," answered Ami, clearly bothered by the answer. "There were trace amounts of dark energy, but nothing unique to help identify it. The residual black powder was only dried up ink."

"That wasn't a random youma," stated Minako as she began to think out loud. "Something's out there, and it's going to hit again. Why, though? And why now?"

"I'm sorry I don't have more to tell you," offered Ami apologetically.

Minako smiled and waved a hand dismissively, though the gesture only grazed the edge of Ami's screen. "No, no, I'm just throwing some thoughts out there. You can't find it if it isn't there, right?" Then her smile dropped a bit. "How's Makoto?"

Ami shifted, and Minako watched her glance over her shoulder. "Unusually quiet. In four years, she's only seen Tomoko twice, and each time her friend has gotten hurt. And then there's the other issue…"

Minako didn't need to ask what that other issue was. She did know they needed to find a way to move passed it, though, and quickly. "I could come talk to her," she offered. "We need to get together, anyway."

"She isn't ready," answered Ami with a shake of her head. "Give her another day or two, perhaps, to let her try and work through some of it."

Reluctantly, Minako agreed. "Rei's looking into things her way, but she hasn't found anything yet, either. How about we all meet the day after tomorrow?" Ami nodded, though she still seemed unhappy about the matter. Minako couldn't blame her, and with a sigh she stretched her hands up over her head. "I hate to say it, but we may not get anywhere with this whole monster mess until the next one appears. I'm gonna be hopeful, though. Maybe between you and Rei we can figure it out."

Ami thanked her for her confidence in them even if she wasn't sharing it at the moment. They finished their call with no more real information having been exchanged, and Minako went to find Rei. It had been several hours since the miko had stolen away to the fire room and she would be needing a break.

Knocking lightly against the door, Minako peeked her head into the room. "Rei?" she whispered, hoping she wasn't interrupting anything important.

Rei quickly stuffed the letter she was reading into the folds of her dogi. The formal foil letterhead of Keio University glinted briefly in the firelight before disappearing, and Rei took several deep breaths before turning to Minako. "Hey," she answered softly in deference to the quiet of the room. "Did you talk to Ami?"

Minako moved into the room and joined Rei by the fire. The flame was steady and full, moving almost languidly. Under other circumstances, she would have taken this as a good sign. Today it just led to more frustration. "Yeah. She didn't really have anything new, though. Could only tell me that those things that hit you were made of titanium."

Rei frowned and rubbed at her now-healed arm. "What about Makoto?"

"The same. Ami wants to give her another few days to snap out of it," added Minako as she leaned back on her elbows.

"Not likely to happen. Especially that quick," returned Rei.

"I know." Minako inclined her head toward the fire. "Anything?"

Rei shook her head. "But I did feel something at the park. It was attached to a deep red orb – maybe a ruby or garnet. But it disappeared just as quickly as I noticed it."

Minako sighed, then scooted over a bit more so she could rest her head on Rei's shoulder. "This should be old hat for us by now. Why does it suddenly feel so complicated?"

"Maybe we're thinking about it too hard," suggested Rei. Her head tilted so her cheek rested against the top of Minako's hair. "We'll get it, though, whatever it is." There was a brief pause, then, "Remember I have that appointment tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I remember. But you're still not going to tell me what kind of appointment, are you?" smirked Minako.

"I will after it's over," returned Rei. She forced a smile to keep Minako from thinking about it too hard. "And by then I'll actually have something to tell you about."

"Fine, fine," answered Minako in a playfully dismissive tone. She lifted her head and looked pointedly at Rei. "Just don't forget you promised to buy me dessert after lunch for making me wait so long to find out. You'll probably have to buy one for Usagi, too."

"Just so long as I don't have to sit there all afternoon and replan her wedding. Again. For the fifth time." Rei chuckled and shook her head. "I swear we're going to have to have ten ceremonies just to get in everything she wants to do. And you," she added, wagging a finger at a completely unrepentant Minako, "you keep encouraging her indecision by taking her to get all those magazines each time a new one comes out."

"Ah, Rei, you just don't understand this very important moment in the life of a young princess." Minako giggled happily. "But you did it so well for me."

A slight blush touched Rei's cheeks, but her pride in herself for that moment was obvious. "Whatever. But she's got less than a year, so you need to start helping her make some decisions or else her mom's going to take over completely and we'll all be wearing those hideous blue gowns that not even you can make look good."

...

Ami shut down her communicator and stared silently at the titanium stylus laying on her desk. Such a small, unassuming object, yet it held so many questions. It had, however, refused to give up any answers, and she found herself facing a proverbial brick wall. She turned in her chair so she could see Makoto and said quietly, "Minako asked about you."

Makoto nodded. Sitting on the floor with her legs crossed under her, she dangled a stuffed ring above Miki and let him grab for it. He burbled happily at their game as his mother answered, "I'm sorry. I just don't know what to say right now."

Getting up from her chair and going over to sit on the floor with them, Ami continued in her soft tone, "I know. It's okay." She smiled at the baby as he tried valiantly to capture the brightly colored ring. "I'm sure she understands, too. She's just worried about you."

"I'm tired of people being worried about it. And she can't understand. None of you can." Makoto looked up, the green of her eyes tired and dull as they met Ami's. "But I've made a decision about something."

Surprise colored Ami's features. She hadn't realized there was a decision to be made.

"Now, hear me out before you get mad at me," went on Makoto. She let Miki grasp the ring and lifted him so he was cradled in her arms. "I'm not going back to school next month. I can't. I need to stay with Bug. It's not just about taking care of him. It's about protecting him, and there isn't anyone else who can do that but me. He's my responsibility, and I can't protect him if I'm not here."

There was a long pause as Ami turned this declaration over in her mind. This had caught her completely off guard and she was having trouble finding a response quickly enough. Therefore, she wasn't completely surprised when Makoto stood and started walking towards the hall.

"See," continued Makoto as she drew her own conclusions from her partner's silence. "I knew you were going to argue and fight me on this."

"What? Wait!" called Ami as she scrambled to her feet. "Mako-chan, wait. I didn't say anything."

"You don't have to. I can see it on your face," returned Makoto as she stopped in the doorway to their bedroom. "You think I'm doing the wrong thing."

"You never said you were contemplating this, so I was surprised. I still am," answered Ami. "Especially after you worked so hard to get this far."

Makoto huffed. "Pride. That was all just stupid pride and me wanting to prove anyone who said I couldn't wrong. But it's not about that anymore, and I don't care what they wind up saying." Still seeing what she thought was disapproval in Ami's expression, she pushed forward, determined to make her see reason. "Look, I know you can't understand this because of how much your education means to you…"

"How can you say that?" interrupted Ami, the hurt suddenly very obvious. And in that hurt she found a voice she very rarely used. "You've said it twice, Mako-chan. But I was there with you. I watched as someone nearly killed my mother and stole my son. I lost him, and we both cried together out of fear thinking we might never get him back."

"But you did get him back," threw out Makoto, her voice rising. "That's why you don't understand. And I don't want you to. I never, ever want you to understand this the way that I do." Her voice lowered and she took a step forward, her hand reaching out to touch Ami's reddening cheek. "I'm not trying to hurt you when I say you don't understand, but you don't, and I'm going to keep it that way. And this is the only way I know how to do that. Please, Ami, don't fight me on this."

The gentle touch and sincere plea did nothing to ease Ami's clenched jaw or the ache in her chest. Anger, she realized. True, pure anger, and she wondered if Makoto was having as hard a time identifying it as she had.

"Don't tell me I can't understand," she responded, her voice so low it was frightening. Makoto's hand fell away as Ami went on, "Don't presume to know my answer before you even ask me the question, and do not presume that you are the only one to know what it's like to lose someone."

"It's not the same!" shot back Makoto, the color rising in her cheeks to match Ami's. The hand that had touched Ami's cheek went to Miki's ear, shielding him from the rising volume. "You may think you get it, but you have no idea what it's like to see your whole world come crashing down and to have each person who's supposed to be there with you leave one by one. I can't do that again! He's all I have!"

Ami's eyes widened in disbelief before the final wave of icy anger washed over her. "How dare you say that? After all we've been through, haven't I proven I'm here for you no matter what happens? Do I mean that little to you? Or is it just that you have so little faith in me that when I say I love you, you can't bring yourself to trust it?"

"Don't be ridiculous," threw back Makoto, regretting her choice in words almost immediately. "I don't mean it that way. I need you and I love you so much it hurts and I can't find the words to tell you how much. But if I lost you, as much as it would kill me, I'd still have him. If we lose him, you've got your family. They'll always take care of you no matter what. You'll survive because you aren't alone."

"Neither are you!" shouted Ami as she threw up her hands in frustration. "You're no more alone now than I am! And even if there was no one else – no friends or family – there's us. That's part of the reason there is an us, so we don't have to be alone anymore."

"I know that! And that's not what I'm talking about!" Makoto let out an agitated growl and threw back her head. "You just don't get it," she muttered to the ceiling. "I can't do it anymore. I can't take that chance again."

"And I can't argue something I was completely unprepared for," returned Ami. A tiny bit of her anger and hurt was expelled in a long, deep sigh. "We're going in circles now. Perhaps it's best if we take a few minutes to regroup and focus on something else for awhile."

"You're kidding, right?" The question was rhetorical and heavy on sarcasm. "Look, just let me change him and then we'll talk some more."

"What's the point? You've apparently made your decision." She stepped away and turned her head, her eyes stinging. "You'll have to go into all of it with Minako, though I did ask her for a few more days before she checks up on you again."

"I figured she'd have some questions." Makoto hesitated, then realizing Ami really did intend to end this – unresolved – for the time being, ventured tentatively, "Are you sure you don't want to…"

Ami shook her head. "Let's just go get what we need for dinner like we were going to," she said a bit hoarsely. "You get him ready and I'll wait in the living room. Take your time."

"If that's what you really want?"

A nod was her answer, followed by Ami's retreating back.

...

The anger. The hurt. The lingering fear. These were emotions she wasn't used to dealing with, and as Ami pushed from the side of the pool in one more lap, she found herself no closer to resolution than she had been the night before. Perhaps it was the lack of restful sleep, as the silence in their home had been anything but peaceful. What little sleep had come had been interrupted by fits of restless crying from Miki. She and Makoto had both been glad to see the dawn come simply so they could retreat to their own corners – her to the pool and Makoto to the gym with a now soundly sleeping baby.

Ami completed the lap and grasped onto the rough concrete edge of the pool. Through slightly labored breathing she could hear footsteps approaching at an even and unhurried pace. Michiru.

Any other time she would have smiled at the familiar sound of her rival. Today, though, she wasn't in the mood for any friendly competition or trivial pleasantries.

The older girl must have noticed, because as her towel was laid over the back of a chair, she said without preamble, "You seem a bit distracted this morning. Your strokes are uneven and your time was off by almost five seconds."

Ami sighed, then looked up at Michiru as she sat on the edge of the pool. "Makoto. She's building walls around herself to keep out the world and she's pushing me out in the process."

Michiru's eyebrows rose in surprise at the bluntness of Ami's answer. She had expected a bit more resistance to her prodding. "You two seemed to be doing a bit better on Saturday. What's changed in such a short period of time?"

Ami's chin rested on her folded arms as her feet paddled languidly beneath the water. "Saturday appears to be the problem. Or at least the part that's pushed Makoto to the point she's at now. She doesn't want to go back to school." A frown touched Ami's lips. "That sounds so simplistic when I say it, like it shouldn't even be a problem."

"But it is," supplied Michiru, "because there's considerably more to it than that."

"Mmmm," murmured Ami. "She's afraid, even more now than she was before. She feels helpless, yet even in her helplessness, she believes she's the only one who can properly protect Miki. Her son. And here I am, standing on the outside of the box she's building around herself. Again."

"And you're just going to let her leave you out?" asked Michiru pointedly, her voice edged with disapproval.

"Of course not!" answered Ami defensively, her feet stilling as her body tensed. "But how do I argue this? We learned a long time ago that the things that go bump in the night aren't just fairytales or shadows of an overactive imagination. In a house full of people, our son was taken. I can't tell her she's overreacting, and I can't find a justification for the need I feel to move on from this in spite of how afraid every stranger who smiles at my son makes me feel."

Her tone gentler, Michiru asked, "Why do you feel like you need to justify it? Letting her close herself or Miki off from the world won't make either of their lives better."

"But to her it will keep him safe," returned Ami. "And to that end it keeps all of us from being hurt again. Or at least she believes it does."

"Did you tell her it doesn't?" asked Michiru as she stood and reached for Ami's towel.

Ami shook her head and pulled herself up over the side.

"Why not?"

"Because I'm finding there's a very large part of myself that doesn't think I should have to," admitted Ami as she took her towel to dry her face and hair. "If she can't understand by now that she isn't alone in all of this, how am I supposed to convince her of that?"

Offering a kind smile, Michiru placed a hand on Ami's shoulder. "Sometimes a point needs to be made repeatedly or in an unexpected, possibly harsh, manner."

"We were harsh enough last night," returned Ami. Then she produced a halfhearted grin. "Perhaps I need to try for unexpected."

"When you do, you'll have to let me know how it goes." Michiru glanced up at the high dive, and for the first time, Ami noticed Haruka watching over them. The racer waved, her legs swinging lazily, the brown flip-flops on her feet threatening to fall into the water at any moment. "We would both like to have you as company, and Hotaru would enjoy some time to play with the baby. She's been… unusually preoccupied since we got back."

"That vacation was somewhat difficult on all of us. I'm sorry for that." Her head hung in a tired fashion. "I'll let you know when we've reached the appropriate point for a visit."

They said their good-byes and Ami waved up to Haruka before reluctantly heading back to the locker room. As much as she needed to, she really didn't want to go home just yet.

...

Backpack slung over his shoulder, Shingo greeted their visitor with a smirk and a tip of his baseball cap. "Meioh-san beat you here. Have fun if you can keep my sister from killing Chibi-usa," he laughed before disappearing down the sidewalk.

Minako's eyebrows rose and she carefully pushed in the partially open door. "Hello! Usagi!"

A flash of pink ran by, dragging Hotaru and a piece of white, polka dotted fabric with it.

"Chibi-usa, I'm gonna kill you!" called Usagi. "I'm not your mother yet, so I _can_ do that!" She was about to go tearing by after her mischievous charge when she spotted Minako and came to an abrupt halt. Smiling widely, she said, "Oh, hi, Minako. Give me just a few minutes to finish getting Chibi-usa packed and I'll be ready to go." She chucked her thumb in the direction of the living room. "Setsuna's in there if you want to wait with her."

"Sure," shrugged Minako. "And take your time. I'm not in a hurry."

Usagi nodded, then turned an intent gaze at the staircase. Chibi-usa stuck out her tongue, then pulled Hotaru the rest of the way up the stairs. "Chibi-usa!" called Usagi again as she resumed her chase.

Chuckling as she went, Minako joined Setsuna in the living room and took a seat in the large chair across from the couch. "I forgot their parents were out of town."

Setsuna smiled. "They actually seemed to have been getting along very well until Chibi-usa 'remembered' something she forgot to pack. I'm still not sure what that something was, but it seems to have sparked Usagi's ire."

"They know how to pull each other's Velcro," smirked Minako. She sank back into the chair cushions and her thoughts became slightly distant. "Setsuna, I've been trying to remember something, but I can't. What did you guys do with us when we were little? I kinda remember going on calls, but not really doing anything. And Makoto complaining cause she never got to go… but that doesn't really feel right and I just can't remember."

"That's probably because most of the time you didn't know there was a call, since we usually left you with your governess." A half smile touched Setsuna's lips as she went on, "You were too young and your powers too raw for you to be effective in battle, though Jupiter did like to bring you along if she thought it was safe enough. Most of the time, though, she left you both with your governess. Now what was her name…" She frowned slightly, her mind running through all the faces that had graced the palace halls. While governesses were rare compared to the other staff, the names had all begun to run together over time, and Setsuna became annoyed with herself for not recalling the woman who had such an obvious – and oft encouraged – crush on their leader.

"Zerellia," offered Minako with a wide grin. "She always made sure I had a bow in my hair before she'd let me leave my room." She huffed in amusement, thinking briefly of the woman who had done the same to her in this lifetime. "I wonder if my mother is some distant descendent of hers."

"I've seen odder things," answered Setsuna. Then, "What's brought on this bit of nostalgia?"

"Makoto," said Minako. She sat forward in her chair, more serious than she had been. "I've changed the rules, but I didn't think far enough ahead when I did. I know well enough that back then, if Makoto had gotten pregnant, it would have been hidden. And within an hour of him being born, Aria would have handed Miki over to be taken to a world so far away that 'Jupiter' wasn't even in their vocabulary. But I couldn't do that to her, and I promised her we would make this work."

"Are you beginning to doubt that?"

"No. Maybe. Kind of, but not really." Minako sighed, sounding tired and disappointed. "Do you remember Aria's tree? The one by the river that you had to hike forever to get to? Well, there's this big old tree on the shrine property that I found about a year ago. They don't really look alike, but they feel the same. Last night, I was sitting under that tree trying to get Aria to tell me what I need to do, but all I could see was her frowning at me. I don't like it when she frowns at me. But," she went on, sitting up straighter and finding some of her lost confidence, "I still believe what you told me about this being balance. I just need to figure out how to balance the balance."

"I'm sorry I can't tell you how to do that," said Setsuna sympathetically. She looked over as the other three came bustling into the room. "Sometimes even I have difficulty finding the right balance."

...

Chocolate coffee slushy in hand, Usagi hummed happily as she perused the magazine section of the bookstore. Racks of thick, glossy tomes in shades of white, pink, and silver stared back at her, each offering to make her special day even specialer. Usagi giggled around her straw. 'Specialer.' She was going to have to remember to use that word around Rei just to see what kind of reaction it would get.

A magazine with a lacy looking wedding cake and two engraved silver rings caught her eye and she added it to her pile. Then she noticed Minako leaving the bakery counter with a plate of gooey pastries and grabbed up the half dozen magazines she'd collected. This would be enough to get them started.

The scent of warm cinnamon greeted her as she slid into the corner booth beside Minako. Magazines were laid carefully to the side, and for a moment she felt Makoto's absence very keenly. But their friend would join them next time, or perhaps they would go to her. For now, though, there was planning to do and warm sticky buns to do it with.

"So, I've been thinking," began Usagi as she grabbed for a sticky bun and took her first glorious bite. "Om mow, thit it eally ood. Neeway," she swallowed and licked her lips. "Since we found so much really good stuff, maybe we could have _two_ weddings. You know, one while I'm one of the common folk and another after I'm queen. After all, a queen should have a really big, splashy wedding that everyone watches on TV and talks about for years and years."

Behind her sticky bun, Minako chuckled. "If you were queen, you wouldn't even be having _one_ wedding."

"Why not?" asked Usagi pitifully. Curious blue eyes stared at her, threatening to spill over a well of tears if she didn't provide a good explanation quickly.

Waving a hand to stall whatever might be coming, Minako said hurriedly, "No, no, I don't mean _because_ it would be you. On the moon we just did things a little differently, that's all." She swiped some icing off her sticky bun. "If the queen bonded, it was kept secret so she could keep this image of solitary control that she had. And probably to keep the person she was bonded to safe, too."

"Bonded?" asked Usagi. "But I just want to get married."

"Same thing," explained Minako. Then her lips turned to a contemplative frown. "Well, sort of. The rest of the population just said vows in front of a priestess. Us," and her hand circled the table to indicate the two of them and their missing comrades, "for us it was more like souls merging. Granted, I was never given the all important cautionary 'talk,' but apparently it's a souls-bonded-for-all-eternity type deal."

"How romantic!" gushed Usagi. She took a sip of frozen chocolate coffee and let her eyes go dewy and distant. "The lonely queen, in order to keep her true love safe, hides their affair, forever living in secret with her lover." She sighed. "I wonder if my mother had a secret lover she bonded her soul to?"

"Of course she did," laughed Minako before she could think better of it. "Where do you think you came fr… uh… never mind." But it was too late as excitement lit upon Usagi's features. "No, Usagi. I can see the question you're about to ask, so just don't."

Seeing true panic suddenly on her friend's face, Usagi replace her real question with another. "Why? Was it illicit? Or was she secretly seeing someone below her class? Like the stableboy, maybe. Everyday when she went out to ride, he would saddle up her horse and hand her a flower, secretly indicating where they were to have their romantic rendezvous…"

"What? No." An image of a pretty young woman with pale blond hair and clear blue eyes flitted across Minako's memories. While it might have been interesting, their lead stablehand really wasn't Serenity's type. Through a grin, she replied. "It wasn't with any of the help, and it certainly wasn't illicit. And there really isn't any story behind it. Actually, I bet you'll be disappointed at just how boring it all really was when you do remember it," lied Minako, somewhat pleased with herself for sounding as convincing as she thought she did.

Usagi slumped back in her seat and took a conciliatory bite from her pastry. "Tho if it wat a secret," she mumbled around her mouthful of food, "how'd you know bout it?"

"There were very few secrets in the palace," grinned Minako.

"Well," huffed Usagi as she reached for one of the magazines, "this princess wants a wedding, and a big one. Here," she scooted closer to Minako, "look at these dresses. I think this one here would be perfect for Rei."

...

Situated comfortably in his bouncy seat, Miki sucked on his pacifier while watching his mother fold a laundry basket full of towels. A fluffy green one was laid on the stack beside him on the table, and Makoto smiled. "What should we do after this, Little Bug? How about the sheets?"

Miki blinked at her.

"Nah, me either." She picked up the next towel. "Do you think your Ami-mama has had enough alone time? Maybe we should see if she wants to do something with us. You know I made her pretty mad, but I'm going to get her to understand. I will."

"I told you, I do understand."

The soft voice behind her startled Makoto, and her head jerked around. She winced, partly in pain and partly in shock. The towel fell to the floor as her hand came to her neck, though her eyes never wavered from Ami's naked form as it stood silhouetted in the doorway. Ami's arms crossed loosely over her chest, the action enhancing her figure rather than hiding it.

Makoto swallowed hard. "Okay," she began, her voice laced with uncertainty, "I can tell by the look on your face that you're still pissed off, and that this isn't some sort of seductive thing. So what gives?"

Her expression never changing, Ami answered, "I'm making a point. Now, I'm going to say something, and you're going to let me finish before you say anything else."

Makoto nodded gingerly.

A deep breath and Ami continued in a measured fashion. "First, we are different people, and because of that our experiences are different, but that's just the way it is. No two people, even those going through the same event, will experience things the same way. However, that doesn't mean they can't understand each other. I _do_ know what it's like to lose someone dear to you. I watched you die once, and with you went my hopes of coming home, because even if we did survive, my world would have suddenly been very empty. So don't _ever_ tell me I don't understand.

"Second," she went on, the slightest quiver in her voice, "if you want to stay home with Miki, I will support that decision. However, I want you do to it because that is what will make you happiest and not out of fear. If you're doing this because you feel like you need to build walls and close the two of you off from anything and everything that could do you even the slightest bit of harm, then I will fight and argue, because neither of you can be happy living like that.

"And third," and now the quiver was gone, replaced by a cold determination. "Miki is _my_ son. Never forget that. My need to move on from this in spite of my fears makes me no less his mother. But I can't move on without you. I don't want to. If that means living in the box you're creating for awhile, then that's what I'll do. But I will find a way to get all three of us out of that box. All three of us, Mako-chan. Together. Understand?"

Makoto hesitated for a moment, then answered quietly, "Yes."

Ami smiled, her body relaxing slightly. "Good. Okay, then." She took a deep breath. "I have to step into the back for a moment, then I'll come help with the laundry."

Again, Makoto nodded, and as Ami turned and left, she exhaled deeply. "Your Ami-mama knows how to make a point when she wants to," she said quietly. "Now how the hell do I answer all of that?"

Miki cooed. Unfortunately, Makoto didn't have a translation for the answer he was giving her.

...

Minako was going to go crazy, and it was all Rei's fault.

She had been good all day and not pestered Rei at all about the secret meeting she'd gone to. They had gotten through lunch with Usagi, dinner with Grandpa, had cleaned up the dishes, and now here they were, staring at each other across the table in their room.

Rei's lips moved as if she were going to say something, then stilled. Minako would have had considerably more patience with this exercise if it hadn't been the fourth time Rei had done it in the last seven minutes.

She was going to go crazy.

"Rei-ei-ei-ei," she whined in a way that she hoped indicated her distress. However, her evil and dastardly love had the nerve to laugh. Minako finally snapped, her head thudding against the table.

"Oh, all right," chuckled Rei. "Here."

The edge of an envelope slid under her nose, and Minako's eyes crossed as she tried to focus. "Hmmm," she murmured as she perked up. She lifted her head and the foil pressed return address glinted happily at her. Snatching the open envelope from the table, she hurriedly pulled the letter from it, scanning it as quickly as she could. Then a wide smile lit up her face. "Really? You got in?"

Rei smiled back at her. "Yep. I really got in."

An excited squeal accompanied Minako launching herself across the table at Rei.

Rei "oomphed" as she landed against the floor, the wind knocked out of her. Kisses reined down upon her for several seconds, and then she found herself staring up at a beaming Minako.

"I can't believe you didn't tell me! How long have you known? Oh my gosh!" gushed Minako in rapid-fire form as she sat up a bit and straddled Rei's hips. "I am going to be married to a Keio girl. Everyone's going to be so jealous! And why didn't you tell me!" she repeated, slapping Rei playfully on the arm.

Still smiling proudly, Rei propped herself up on her elbows as best she could and answered, "Because I had something I had to check on first. And the letter was here when we got back from vacation."

"But this is great news. You should have said something so we could all celebrate," chastised Minako, punctuating it with a wounded pout.

Rei laughed and apologized profusely, but then she sobered a bit. "This has the potential to be really great, but I don't think it is just yet. Cause you know, Mina, a really good school comes with a really big tuition bill."

"Pft. There's plenty to cover it in that trust fund you've got," pointed out Minako.

Any jubilation Rei had been showing quickly evaporated, a dark cloud covering the light in her eyes. "No. That's my father's money, and I don't want anything to do with it." She sat up fully, sliding Minako off her lap in the process. "I went to see Kimiko today. Before you ask, no, I don't have any idea where my father was at the time and I didn't bother to find out. She and I just had some business to discuss. Looks like he's maintained that account even through the last year, but even if he hadn't, I still wouldn't take it. I won't give him the satisfaction of redemption by letting him do this for me. I can do it by myself." Then she sighed, her lingering anger fading. "I just have to figure out how to do that. Explaining to my grandfather that I'm about to take on massive amounts of debt when he thought my future was set isn't going to be easy."

Minako's hand reached out to touch Rei's cheek, continuing on to comb through her hair. "Whatever we have to do, we'll make it work," she said softly. Then the huge, happy grin returned. "But right now, we are going to celebrate and be happy. We need something good to finally happen, and…" she stood and practically bounced over to the closet, "I went shopping."

A suspicious smirk formed on Rei's lips. "You went shopping? For what?"

"You'll see. Now, close your eyes," ordered Minako, waving a hand at Rei to get her to obey.

Rei did as asked and listened as Minako rummaged through their closet. The blonde mumbled to herself as she pushed aside boxes and dug under plastic bags. Rei was considering getting worried, afraid her wife may actually be trying to dig an escape route. She chuckled to herself.

"You're not peeking, are you?" called Minako as clothes rustled and fell from hangers. "I hear snickering."

"Nope, promise," called back Rei. "You're not lost in there, are you? One Sailor V stashed in there is enough, and I really do like having you out here with me."

Minako giggled, the sound bright and cheery. "I love you, too." Then, a moment later, "Okay. Open your eyes."

Rei did as asked and had to bite her lip to keep from laughing. Minako was the perfect – albeit hastily put together – image of a preppy college student. An oversized sweater with Keio's emblem on the large side pocket and thick navy blue stripes around the wrists hung halfway to her knees. On her head was a matching, cream-colored visor, and hanging from her shoulder was a dark blue backpack, a tiny unicorn mascot dangling from the front zipper.

She waved a miniature pompom and giggled. "I knew you could do it," she said excitedly. "And I wanted to be prepared." From the sweater pocket she produced a brightly wrapped cylinder. A quick tug on both ends, and it burst open with a loud _POP_, confetti showering down around them. "Congratulations! Woohoo!"

Rei grinned ear to ear. "Thank you. So, what's in the backpack, Mina?"

Plopping herself and the bag down beside Rei, she quickly unzipped it and pulled out a ball cap. Placing it on Rei's head, she took a moment to adjust it and admire her handiwork before holding up the matching sweatshirt. "It's a little warm to wear it now, but in the fall it'll be perfect. And look, it matches these." Two notebooks and a binder were laid on the table, both bearing a silver foil version of the school logo, along with an engraved pen and keychain. Another pompom was pulled from the bag and she waved it, announcing in a singsong voice, "My girl is a Keio girl." Humming the line softly to herself, she leaned forward and rested her arms on Rei's shoulders.

"Congratulations, Rei-chan," she whispered, continuing to close the distance between them until their lips met, soft and warm.

...

Two cereal bowls were set on the kitchen table, followed quickly by a giant tub of chocolate ice cream. Haruka wore a concentrated expression as she systematically collected syrup, sprinkles, nuts, and whipped cream.

"Cherries," volunteered Chibi-usa. "Don't forget the cherries."

"Oh, no," called Hotaru, racing her papa to the refrigerator. She giggled as they tussled playfully, her coming up victorious with the unopened jar. Laughing, she scurried over to Michiru. "Here, Michiru-mama. It needs to be opened."

Haruka put her hands on her hips and half frowned at her daughter.

"You can open the syrup," offered Michiru in mock sympathy as she deftly turned the lid.

"I want her to open the ice cream!" piped up Chibi-usa as she climbed onto one of the chairs.

Hotaru scrambled up in the chair beside hers as Haruka happily complied. The children clutched large tablespoons as the plastic carton was peeled open with a pop and a crack. Chibi-usa reached over and traced a smiley face into the icy side, her garnet eyes sparkling as she giggled.

Garnet eyes…

A voice tickled at the back of Hotaru's memories. _"No, silly. Like this…"_ She swallowed hard.

Garnet eyes…

_"Here," laughed Setsuna as she scooped a small snowball of marbled chocolate into the bowl. "It's called ice cream for a reason. If you try to eat that much at one time it's gonna feel like you're sticking your face into a vat of sharpened icicles."_

_Hotaru stared down at the bowl and poked at the ball of chocolate. She knew she liked chocolate. Even if the Venusians contributed nothing of real value to the alliance, their place in history was guaranteed just for this decadent treat. But she still wasn't sure about the creature it had come from. Pushing a long lock of dark hair behind her ear, she asked ruefully,"And this really came from that… thing?"_

_Setsuna grinned and scooped up a spoonful of gooey, drippy goodness. "Yep. And it's called a cow. C-O-W. Cow."_

_Hotaru cringed at the mention of the creature's title. Her frown was then turned on Setsuna as the girl dropped her spoon and practically doubled over in laughter._

_Garnet eyes danced in mirth as she sputtered out, "You should see the look on your face right now. And my cows are no worse than those fuzzy brown tolick things from your world."_

_With a huff, Hotaru crossed her arms over her chest. "Well, at least my tolicks have real paws. Your cows have stones melded onto their legs." Rather than eliciting any kind of planetary pride and indignance, Setsuna laughed even harder. Hotaru tried to scowl, but it came out more as a smirk and quickly turned into a giggle. "Okay, okay," she laughed, throwing up her hands. "So show me how to do this the right way before it all melts."_

"Hotaru?"

Hotaru startled, then blinked. The gentle inquiry had come from her Michiru-mama, her warm hand having come to rest lightly on Hotaru's shoulder.

Still feeling a little dazed, the child glanced from worried aqua-blue eyes to look back at Chibi-usa. "Your eyes," she said in a whisper. "I don't know why I never noticed before."

Chibi-usa's cheeks flushed red at the scrutiny, and that seemed to snap Hotaru out of it. "I'm sorry," she stammered, turning her attention quickly back to their evening treat.

Haruka reached over and laid the tips of her fingers on Hotaru's hand. "Maybe we should take a break for a few minutes?"

Hotaru shook her head. "I'm okay. I just got distracted. And you said we could have ice cream for washing the dishes." Then she looked over to Chibi-usa and grinned. "With sprinkles, right?"

Chibi-usa hesitated for a moment, intently studying her friend's expression. Then she nodded, finding her own grin. "And whipped cream with strawberry syrup."

"I'd prefer caramel," said Michiru as she slid onto the chair beside Haruka's.

The racer smirked, her eyes twinkling.

"On my ice cream, thank you," elaborated Michiru through a smirk of her own.

Haruka laughed as she reached for the ice cream scoop. "Whatever you say, love," she answered softly, enjoying the giggles from the two little girls and the sly grin from her partner.

...

"I'm home," called Setsuna as she closed the door quietly behind her.

"Puu!" welcomed an enthusiastic and pajama clad Chibi-usa. "Welcome home," she went on as she hugged her favorite guardian. "You missed the ice cream, but you can still watch movies with us. But you have to put your pajamas on first."

Setsuna smiled down at the child. "I would enjoy that. Go save me a seat while I change."

Chibi-usa nodded and ran past Hotaru as she hurried back to the living room, obviously still riding a sugar high.

Hotaru, however, seemed considerably more subdued. A sense of unease settled over Setsuna as she approached her daughter. "Good evening, Hotaru," she said, unable to hide her sudden trepidation behind a forced smile.

"She has your eyes," returned Hotaru quietly, her face an expressionless mask even as her voice echoed with an edge of accusation.

Setsuna tensed, caught off-guard and unprepared. It didn't seem to matter, though, as Hotaru turned from her and followed after Chibi-usa. She let out a slow, unsteady breath as the girl disappeared from her sight, then whispered, "I know," before heading up the stairs.

* * *

**_End Chapter Three_**

* * *

**_Characters from Silver Millennium Series_**

Aria - Jupiter: Leader, Makoto's sister

Rory - Venus: Second in command, Minako's aunt

Khita – Mars, Rei's cousin

Jessa – Mercury, Ami's aunt

Neisei – Neptune, Michiru's cousin

Koubi – Uranus, Haruka's cousin


	4. Death is There to Keep Us Honest

_**The Ghosts of Dreams We Left Behind  
by  
Crawlspace**_

* * *

_**Chapter 4: Death is There to Keep Us Honest**_

_Breathing hard, Saturn leaned heavily on her glaive and limped the last few paces to the doors of the throne room. Scattered behind her lay the bodies of the planet's elite guard, their blood dripping from her blade and staining her uniform._

_There would be no forgiveness now._

_She reached up to grasp her pendent, longing for warmth on her cold and hostile homeworld. But as her fingers touched only flesh, she was reminded that she had left it behind, wrapped in a note and lying on Setsuna's dresser._

_Setsuna._

_Fresh tears stung her eyes. When she left, there had at least been a chance they could still be together. A chance, however slim, that her queen would understand her need to save her brother and absolve her people. In that understanding, Saturn had hoped she would be offered pardon. That notion of pardon had disappeared with the first swing of her glaive as she fought her way from the landing pad to the palace proper. Now, if she managed to survive this confrontation with Sentil, the best she could hope for was eternal banishment to Titan. At worst…_

_She laughed bitterly as she pulled herself together and reached for the heavily fortified door. Her brother was lost to her, she accepted that. In his madness, he had taken the lives of their parents, their relatives, and any unfortunate soul who had even the most tenuous grasp on the throne. She couldn't save him, but perhaps she could save her people. To do that, though, she would first have to deal with Sentil._

_Her hand rested against the cold, gilded metal of the door, its strength openly defying her wish to pass. It was a futile defiance, though, the purple glow that emerged beneath her palm causing it to screech and whine as it collapsed in upon itself. Her face expressionless, Saturn watched a miniature black hole form, its edges glowing and swirling the same deep purple as her eyes, and within seconds, the final physical barrier in her quest had been removed. Then, through the gaping hole it left, she saw him._

_Sentil smiled at her from atop their father's throne. "Welcome home, Hotaru."_

_Her steps stopped halfway into the room, her senses alert to the guards who stayed hidden in the shadows. Leveling her glaive at him and almost immediately missing the support it provided, she asked in a hoarse voice, "Why?"_

_Her brother threw his head back and laughed, the sound chilling. "For you, of course." He stood and slowly began to descend the half dozen steps that raised the royal thrones above any visitors they might receive. "And for me, as well as the good of our people. I told you I would bring you home one day, and that together we would rule. That together we would claim our birthright in spite of the machinations of a foreign invader. Have you forgotten? Or have you become accustomed to being treated as an object? Are you happy that you were traded away in exchange for your father's false power?" He stepped up to her, no fear in his features as he stared down the shaft of her glaive. "This is your home, Hotaru. I can overlook everything you've done up until now because of what's been done to you. Will the Moon's queen?" He tapped the blade of her glaive, moving it slightly to the side. "Come home, little sister. Come back to me and your people."_

_Saturn stared into eyes that were a mirror of her own. She had once found warmth and love in those eyes and comfort in his voice. Those things were still there, albeit shadowed, the boy in him trying to keep a promise he'd made the day she was thrown away by their father. And that made what she was about to do all that much harder._

_Gritting her teeth and stepping back several paces, Saturn steadied her glaive, the point coming to rest over Sentil's heart. "I am not an object or a possession for either you or Serenity. And I can't let you do this. It will destroy our world, Sentil. I can't allow it."_

_"It's already done," answered her brother quietly, all the warmth he'd had left for her disappearing behind a stony visage. He stepped back from her as his guards slowly began to advance from their hiding places. "The people of this world recognize me as their king and they know where their future lies. They know everything now begins with me, not with a foreign queen," he went on as his feet reached the stairs to the throne. He raised his hand. "They see that you have been corrupted just as our father was. You are a traitor, Hotaru, to the crown and to the people. You know what the penalty is."_

_Her grip on her glaive tightened just as Sentil dropped his hand. In one smooth, graceful sweep she sliced across two guards charging from the right, in their death throes hearing a new truth. Her glaive arced up and around, quickly taking down two more on the left before they could stop their approach. As the sound of bodies and broken swords clattered against the floor, she wept for her people. She had lost their trust just as surely as she had lost Serenity's._

_Three more behind her, and without conscious thought a shield of pale purple appeared around her. Their weapons might have been made of paper for all the good they did, and their fear became palpable when she turned to face them. "Demon!" they screamed, and she knew what they were seeing as they tried to run, stumbling over each other in their haste and falling to the cold and bloodied floor. She could sense her planetary symbol burning against her forehead and felt the specter of death in the depth of her eyes. Again her glaive was raised, and their screams cut off abruptly, their blood pooling around her feet._

_Now, there was only one left._

_Turning back to her brother, she saw in him the same fear she had in his guards. He took a step backwards and stumbled, falling onto the steps. He tried to find purchase but only scrambled ineffectually against the smooth marble._

_She advanced at a measured pace, perhaps subconsciously willing him to flee. But his fear held him steady, and as she came upon him, she looked down on him with hollow eyes. The blade of her glaive hovered over his chest, and she said softly, "I'm sorry, Sentil. I can't come home," then thrust the blade forward one last time._

_Silently, the light faded from his eyes, and Saturn pulled back her blade. The royal house of Saturn was dead, her people were traitors to the alliance, and she was…_

_"Alone."_

_With slightly trembling hands she took several steps back and turned away from her brother's body. Taking a deep breath, she held her glaive in front of her and closed her eyes. Upon landing on this world she had found a deadly power within herself, and as she stood there listening to the whispers of the universe, she found her ultimate strength, that dark light that ensured she would be the only one. This time, rather than run from it, she embraced it._

_Her glaive was lifted as a purple glow so deep it was almost black emanated from her chest and rippled along her body. The words were whispered in her ear, and she repeated them soundlessly, feeling the slow drop of her glaive._

_"Hotaru!"_

_She froze. No. It couldn't be._

_"Hotaru, stop!" was called out in a frantic pitch and she opened her eyes to see Pluto running towards her. The other girl was abruptly stopped by Venus as their leader grabbed her arm and jerked her back. Venus' eyes carried the horror of what she'd seen in the palace corridors, and her voice cracked just a bit as she barked out a command for Saturn to stand down._

_Hotaru looked over to Pluto. Jupiter held her in place as the others crowded in around them. "I'm sorry," she said softly as one hand let loose of the glaive and extended out._

_Before they had a chance to react, a Silence Shield was thrown up around them, trapping them where they stood and muting their voices to her. She watch Pluto rush forward, her fists hitting the dome as Venus began frantically shouting into her communicator._

_Then she closed her eyes again. Wrapped in the cold silence of the universe, the last thing she felt was the slow, steady fall of her glaive._

Hotaru hugged her pillow and huddled against the headboard of her bed. In the soft glow of her nightlights, two thin trails of tears glistened silently.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Apparently, breakfast was going to be silent. Again.

Makoto sighed and set her bowl down with a clatter. Ami didn't so much as glance at her, her chopsticks continuing to systematically make short work of her omelet.

"Okay, look," said Makoto finally, her frustration with the quiet tension in their home reaching its limit. "I'm not trying to push you out. I want you locked up inside this box right along with us."

Ami laid her chopsticks very carefully on the edge of her plate and looked pointedly at her partner. "No."

"Yeah, I got that part," sighed Makoto. "But I don't know what I'm supposed to do, and as much as we both may want me to, I can't pretend nothing's changed so it'll all just go away."

Relaxing a bit, Ami leaned back in her chair and nodded. "I know, and that's not what I'm asking you to do. I don't believe that's something either of us can do." She reached over and placed her hand gently over Makoto's. "But it's been almost a month. I'm afraid if we don't start trying to move forward, or at the very least start asking ourselves how we're going to do that, we'll get stuck and never find a way out." She took a deep breath, and after releasing it, a soft smile appeared on her lips. "If you'll let me offer it, I have a suggestion."

Makoto tilted her head and asked with a suspicious air, "Are you going to say we should put him back in the nursery?"

Ami's eyes widened at the unexpected question, as she had never even entertained the idea herself. "No," she answered with a shake of her head. She glanced over at Miki, watching him smile and burble at his reflection in the mirror of the baby gym. "I wanted to move him into our room as much for myself as for you. I'm a bit ashamed to say this, but I still find the night somewhat intimidating."

"Afraid of the dark," said Makoto with a sympathetic grin.

"Something like that," grinned back Ami. "No, I think our first steps forward out of this whole situation should be taken in the daylight."

"And you have a plan," replied Makoto, her hand turning under Ami's so she could twine their fingers.

A confident nod preceded her reply. "Yes. We're going to go for a walk."

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Outside the boardroom, Minako leaned against the wall and hummed softly to herself. She was bored. She was also terribly curious to find out what was going on behind the closed door she was staring at and why Colleen had told her to wait here and not move. She glanced down at her watch and sighed.

"Minako! Thank God!"

The blonde grinned. Now she had at least part of her answer.

A whirlwind with red hair and a black duffel bag blew into the corridor, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her to the nearest restroom.

"Traffic was horrible," went on Ai as her bag hit the floor and she systematically began checking each stall for prying ears. "But I promised my brother I'd drop him at band camp, and I couldn't just push him and his oboe out even if I was going really slow."

Minako laughed and locked the door without having to be told as twinkling green eyes turned to her. "You're late," she replied with a chuckle.

Ai smirked, the splash of freckles across her nose wrinkling as she did. "Yeah. So how mad is the bossman?"

With a shrug, Minako answered, "Don't know. I was abandoned in the hallway about 40 minutes ago."

"I really appreciate your help with this," returned Ai as she reached for the bag and began pulling out all the accoutrements that would turn her into the goth pop idol most people knew her as. "If I'd known Eri was going to beg me to stay and watch him warm up, I'd have gotten mom to take him."

"Any time. Besides," and here a mischievous little glint touched her eyes, "I'm sure they're so busy negotiating away your life that they haven't even noticed you aren't there."

"I'd laugh if I didn't think that was true," answered Ai as her jeans and baby blue tee-shirt were replaced by a ragged looking dark gray miniskirt and swatches of black, lacy fabric that passed for a top. She hitched up strategically torn leggings, then reached for a skullcap and began stuffing red curls under it while Minako fluffed out an inky black wig. Make-up was applied to hide her freckles and turn her already pale complexion ghostly. To complete the look, a pair of contacts turned her bright eyes dark and cat-like.

"I still can't believe that's you under all of that," whispered Minako, still in awe of the transformation. "People would be horrified if they knew you were actually a happy and well adjusted individual."

The girl Rei had dubbed 'the suicide princess' crossed her arms and frowned sullenly. "How dare you insult me by calling me happy?" Then her frown cracked and she broke down in a fit of giggles.

Their laughter was interrupted by a thudding knock at the door. "It's Colleen! Minako, are you in there?"

"Yes," called back Minako as she and Ai stooped to pick up odds and ends. "And she's here, too. She'll be ready in just a second."

"Good, good," replied Colleen, noticeable relief in her voice. "Ai, just go to the conference room when you're done. Make a splashy entrance just for my amusement, please. Minako, I've got something I need you to take care of in my office. You know the drill, and I'll meet you there as soon as I can get away."

Ai zipped the bag closed and nodded to her friend. Minako nodded back, hefted the bag onto her shoulder, and followed the idol out into the corridor.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Ami was a bit slower than normal in answering the door, but Michiru smiled pleasantly at her as they greeted each other in the doorway of the apartment.

"You made your point, I take it?" the older girl asked, a slightly mischievous twinkle in her eye.

A slight blush touched Ami's cheeks. "And in a somewhat unexpected way."

"Somewhat," huffed Makoto. She propped Miki up on her lap so he could better greet Hotaru as she scooted around her parents to get to him. "She has a gift for understatement, you know."

Haruka suddenly looked intrigued, but Michiru cut her off before she could even get started. "While we would very much like to hear all you'd like to tell us, I think you need to get started on your task. We also have something we'd like to speak with you about when you get back."

Tired purple eyes brightened as the baby grasped her fingers. With only a touch of reluctance, he was handed off to her, and he laughed as she nuzzled against his cheek.

Makoto took a steadying breath, feeling the now familiar creep of fear and possessiveness. But she had a new goal before her, and now that the path was clearly in front of her, she was ready to step forward… maybe.

"Twenty minutes, Mako-chan," instructed Haruka as she pulled her friend from the couch and walked her over to Ami. "No cheating."

"Either of you," added Michiru. "We'll take care of him, so just enjoy your morning stroll."

"May we put our shoes on before you push us out the door?" asked Ami with a smirk.

Michiru reached down and picked up both pairs of sneakers. "Here. You can put them on out on the landing. It'll count towards your twenty minutes."

With that, they and their shoes were deposited outside, and the door was bolted behind them. Makoto crossed her arms and stared at Ami in pointed amusement. "What was that you were saying about us having caring and compassionate friends?"

Ami let out a curt sound and bent down to tie her shoes. "Well, she did say this would count towards our time. It's a good way to cut sixty seconds from the walk."

Reaching down to lace up her own shoes, Makoto sighed again and said quietly, "I'll concede that you're right about this, but it still feels wrong leaving him. Even if it is just for a few minutes."

"I know," answered Ami as she stood. She held a hand down for Makoto.

Makoto gave a halfhearted smile and reached up for Ami, finding the strength she lacked in the delicate grip.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Michiru didn't say a word, not a single word as she and Ami gathered glasses and mixed up a pitcher of lemonade. She didn't have to. The tiny little grin she wore said it all.

Ami sighed. "I can't help that she walks faster when she's nervous. But it was almost twenty minutes."

"Fourteen," supplied Michiru, her grin growing into a genuine smile. "But all in all it was a good start, and I can't say that I would have done as well were I in your position and someone told me to leave my child for any length of time."

Ami returned the smile, easily able to visualize just how badly her friends might handle such a situation. "Thank you," she said quietly as she led them into the living room. She began to fill the glasses after Michiru set them on the table and continued with, "You said you had something you wanted to ask us about?"

"Let me ask them," jumped in Hotaru excitedly. She waited for a nod from her mama, then looked between Makoto and Ami as she announced, "We want to be his babysitters."

There was a paused moment that contained some confusion, which led Haruka to lean back on the couch and shrug nonchalantly, as if she were saying, 'No big deal, just a random thought.' "For when you go back to school. You don't have to answer right away, but we wouldn't mind having him if you wanted to leave him at the house with us." Then she grinned widely. "Plus it'll be fun for us. I'll finally have someone to play cars with."

"We know it's a big decision for you for several reasons," added Michiru as she sat beside Haruka. "But you know that there will always be at least two of us there to look after him. While we can't be a substitute for the two of you, we can offer a bit more security than any other option you might have. And as Haruka said," she went on, her smile warm, "we would find a great deal of enjoyment in his company."

"I won't have as much fun as they will," lamented Hotaru from where she sat beside Makoto on the floor. "But I will get to play with him a little after school. So I can still help."

Ami found herself smiling gratefully at Michiru, silently thanking her for not only listening to her problems and concerns, but for also trying to help them find a real solution.

Haruka's arm slipped down around Michiru's shoulders. "Like I said, we don't need an answer right this minute, so think about it. But I bet you'll have as hard a time as I do arguing with her logic."

Makoto chuckled a bit uncertainly. "I'm not sure I'd even want to try." She reached over to where Miki was sitting contently in his bouncy seat and stroked the back of his hand. "So, you guys wanna come over for breakfast tomorrow? Maybe lunch, too. I have a feeling I'm gonna be doing a lot of walking for the next couple weeks."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Senzo desperately wanted a cigarette. He grumbled unhappily as he fished around in his pocket for a pack of gum. Musing at what a miserable substitute this was for his preferred vice, he folded three sticks of sugar-free imitation lemon into his mouth.

Chewing far more dramatically than necessary, he wandered away from the conference room. He'd hoped negotiations would be further along by now, but his moody songbird's tardiness had held things up. His colleagues' stubbornness was holding things up further. He just couldn't seem to impress upon them that the girl belonged to him and he wasn't going to just give her away for their little project.

He huffed and chewed harder.

As Senzo rounded a corner, he heard the whine and whir of the fax machine over the smacking of his gum. Just behind that, he picked up the hum of a familiar voice. Changing his course slightly, he stepped over to peek into the closet-like room where the office fax machine was housed. Quietly, he stood and watched Colleen's little blonde assistant sing in pace with the buttons she was pushing on the machine's keypad.

"What a waste," he muttered.

Out of nowhere, a voice piped in quietly behind him, "I still can't believe you've got _her_ working here as a piddling gopher."

Senzo managed to keep his composure as he nearly choked on his gum. Slowly he turned and glowered at the man smiling behind him. Then, acting as if he had no clue what his friend was talking about, he asked, "Her who?"

Takuya rolled his eyes. They didn't play games like this over at Galaxy Records, and even for all the years he'd know this man, he still wasn't used to it. "Fine, Senzo, I'll play along today. But you know Yomura is going to have a fit when he finds out you've got her and haven't told anyone."

"Why should he care?" asked Senzo as he crossed his arms and went back to watching Minako. "There's no reason at all the gaijin shouldn't be allowed to have her own assistant. She's a very hard worker," he went on, ostensibly in Colleen's defense.

At a loss for words, Takuya just stared at him and hoped for both their sakes Colleen wasn't in earshot.

Unfazed and uncaring, Senzo yelled over to Minako, "You! New girl!" She startled and her singing abruptly cut off. "The gaijin just called in an order to that lunch place with the red stripes. Go pick it up!"

"Yes, sir," she answered, her pace picking up with her current task.

_What a waste_, Senzo thought again as he sighed internally. _But it was her own damn fault…_ He turned to walk away, but stopped and turned sharp eyes onto Takuya. "Don't think I haven't noticed that look, Mr. Slick. Stay away from my employees."

Takuya held up both hands defensively. "Don't worry, Senzo, I wouldn't dream of it. Colleen would kill me if I took her assistant."

Senzo almost grinned, but stopped himself as Takuya's assistant, Shiori, came into view. He thought again what an odd little thing she was, her dark hair streaked with blue and tied up in a haphazard bun. A tiny sapphire stud in her right ear was connected by a thin chain to a silver stud in the curve of that ear. The left ear bore only a silver stud, the look contrasting sharply with the navy blue skirt suit she wore. She hefted the large leather organizer she toted everywhere she went and reached for one of the two blue pens sticking from her bun. She checked something off one of the pages in her organizer, then nodded, her glasses falling just a smidge as she smiled at them and apologized for interrupting.

"Yomura-san called and said he's faxing over some of the changes to the contract," said Shiori with a polite smile. "Would this be where I find them?"

"Get the new girl to help you," answered Senzo.

Shiori's brow creased in confusion.

"He means Aino-san," supplied Takuya.

"Ah, yes, of coursed," replied Shiori, wondering how long someone had to work here before they weren't considered new anymore. She looked over to the girl who had once again started humming to herself as she fed a ream of paper into the copy/fax. Shiori frowned at the machine, noting internally how much she hated the thing. But the girl…

A pleasant smile forming on her lips, Shiori went over and greeted Minako, explaining in an embarrassed manner her ineptitude with modern technology.

Minako waived off the young woman's apology for her lack of skill. "Don't feel bad. I almost killed the computer in Colleen's office, and I won't even tell you what I once did to a friend's tape player." She pushed a button to pause her task and tapped in a different sequence to begin another.

Shiori let a relieved sigh. "Thank you," she said as the whine and whir began again in earnest. "And if you'll forgive me for being so forward, I've noticed you singing to yourself several times, and you have a very lovely voice."

A wide grin touched Minako's lips as she found herself very grateful for the compliment. In a place with such large and noticeable talent, it felt good to find herself out of the background and in the spotlight for a moment, even if it was just a simple, random comment.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Michiru grinned softly as she watched Hotaru run ahead of them. The child was far more eager to collect the needed items for her summer homework project than she could ever remember herself being. She grinned just a bit wistfully, though, remembering those elementary school picture diaries with a melancholy fondness generally reserved for those much older.

A light wisp of cologne mingled with the scent of freshly cut grass drifting from the park as Haruka brought an arm up and rested it loosely around her shoulders. Michiru's grin widened and the melancholy shadow it held evaporated. Middle school had been much better, and she cherished the memory of a roommate who had smiled like a Cheshire cat when Michiru said she wanted to meet the blonde racer who was eluding both of them.

"So you got what you wanted," said Haruka through a smile.

Michiru laughed, her heart truly happy. "Yes, I did."

"I'll pull the crib out tomorrow and see if I can remember how to put it together," said Haruka as they came up behind Hotaru at the corner and waited for the light to change. "Shouldn't be that hard."

The light changed and they crossed the busy intersection, more people walking away from them than with them. From here they could see the brightly colored awning of the art supply store tucked between a coffee shop and hardware store. Another block and they'd be at their destination.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Roku grunted and blew a burgundy colored lock of hair out of her eyes. She hated sunshine, nature, the scent of freshly cut grass, and all the critters that lived in the bushes she was trying to hide behind. Unfortunately, this was where her tracking program had brought her. She smiled in spite of the insect buzzing around her ear and tapped at her computer pad.

The map window on the pad's screen reduced into the top corner as a video loaded in the center. This person had to be the one. She was just too perfect. And Roku was going to capture her creative spark all on her own. The video flashed, then began to play a clip of an aqua-haired woman giving a violin performance. Typically this wasn't Roku's thing, but she found herself once again pulled into the music's soul. She smiled widely, her eyes drifting to the tiny bit of visible artwork that was her wallpaper beneath the open program windows. Yes, this had to be the spark that would allow Kuniku-sama to finish his masterpiece and win her the promised reward.

Laughter distracted her and Roku peered over the shrubbery in front of her. For just a second, she hesitated. Perhaps it was a twinge of guilt at the idea of taking such a beautiful thing from the world. She closed her eyes and shook it off. Kuniku-sama would create a better world because of it, and her reward would be well worth the sacrifice.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

"Can I help you put the crib together?" asked Hotaru as she took Haruka's hand.

"Homework, first," answered Michiru before Haruka had a chance to respond. "Time's going to catch up to you, and you won't have enough time to finish things the way you'd like."

Hotaru frowned, though she couldn't really argue the point. However, 'finish' was more like 'start,' and that was really the problem. At least, she thought to herself, she had a stockpile of old newspapers stacked neatly in her room to copy weather reports and daily events from. Chibi-usa would be envious.

A bell chimed as they opened the door to the art store. A stout little gentleman with a pencil thin mustache greeted them cheerily. His white tailored shirt was highlighted with smudges of chalk, the shirt becoming a secondary canvas to the large sketchbook he kept beside him at the register. They all exchanged pleasantries and Michiru inquired after his wife as Haruka and Hotaru broke off to wander the small shop.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Roku followed at a discreet distance, coming to a stop at one of the café tables outside the coffee shop. Even with her computer pad she looked painfully out of place. A young waitress hesitated slightly as she asked for Roku's order, scurrying away quickly once she had it. Roku frowned and brought a finger up to trace along the chain that dangled from the burgundy stud in her ear. She was going to keep the skull and crossbones no matter what anyone thought, but this chain would be the first thing to go once she was given her reward. But to gain that reward, she needed to capture her target.

From the pocket of her dark denim jeans, she pulled out a small black inkwell and set it beside her computer pad. She tapped a few commands into the CReaTioN Program, then ejected a micro SD card from its slot. Uncorking the inkwell, she dropped the card into it. "Forgive me," she whispered as she replaced the cork. "But at least you've made your mark and won't ever be forgotten."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

What had turned into a pleasant conversation about several up-and-coming artists was abruptly cut short by the screech of bending metal and the tearing of heavy fabric. Screams could be heard from the coffee shop next door just before the front of the art store exploded in.

The stout, little proprietor tried to grab Michiru and shield her from the debris, but in the sudden chaos and clouds of dust she had gotten away from him. He coughed and wiped at his stinging eyes, trying to see what was happening through the haze, but all he could make out was the erratic flapping of his green and purple awning. Blinding flashes of light that we was certain were the beginnings of a gas line explosion sent him to his knees, and he scooted backward until he hit the register counter.

"Be still," Uranus whispered in his ear, startling him further. "We'll take care of everything." Her voice was authoritative and reassuring, and he found he had no qualms about letting go of his pride and huddling here until he was told to move again. Except for one thing.

"Kaioh-san…" he choked out.

He felt a smile in his rescuer's voice as she replied, "I'll take care of her, too."

That smile vanished, though, as Michiru's high-pitched scream shot through them from across the store.

Uranus clenched her teeth, the mirth in her eyes replaced with a terrifying coldness. The little man was forgotten as she sprinted in the direction of the scream.

Through the haze and dust, a billowing apparition of lime green and purple appeared. Built on a frame of wrought iron bones, swaths of fabric flowed out to form appendages, it's head created from the baby-bonnet edging of the awning. One arm had wrapped tightly around Michiru's middle, pinning her arms to her sides, another around her legs. Black eyes highlighted with a glowing red stared intently at her as the creature lifted her from the ground.

At her feet, her henshin wand glittered, lost in the scuffle. She hadn't had time to transform before the creature had latched onto her, and the thing wasn't wasting any time with what it had come to collect. A tiny, electronic plate appeared at the center of its chest, an eerie green light appearing as it powered up. A moment later that tiny glow all but disappeared under the golden luminescence of the sphere that appeared over Michiru's heart. Her eyes closed slowly as the creature chortled, the sound echoing unnaturally.

A fire ignited in the pit of Uranus' stomach and grew into a molten blaze. Orange light began to emanate from her fingertips before the words of her attack even touched her lips.

The youma never knew what hit it.

The force of the World Shaking took the youma off it's feet and slammed it though shelves and into the back wall of the store, a glowing amber trench marking the path. Michiru was dropped to the floor, and Uranus ran over to her. Gathering her up, she held her tightly.

"I just have to finish this up and then I'll be back, okay," she said softly before carefully easing Michiru back to the floor and gently guiding the golden spark back to it's home near Michiru's heart. She reached for her partner's henshin wand and watched it disappear back to the relative safety of subspace.

The youma's angry, echoing growl got her attention, and from where she was crouched she could see the purple glow that was the cause for it.

Saturn had found it upset and disoriented, the fringes of the cloth that created its body ragged, the center of it battered and torn as it struggled to free itself from the crevice it had created in the wall. When the youma saw her, it's mouth opened in a jagged yell and its arms billowed out, doubling in size. Saturn's eyes narrowed, their color darkening as her grip tightened on her glaive. The blade angled slightly forward, and as one sweeping arm arched toward her, she leaped.

Metal met metal, the blade of the glaive tearing fabric down to the skeleton. The youma rolled from the wall and tried to move back to the center of the store, one of its arms now literally torn into ribbons. Saturn stayed on its heels, and as the youma howled and swung, her glaive met it hard enough to slice the wrought iron arm from its body.

Cold and unsympathetic eyes forced the youma on, the metal of Saturn's glaive now glowing a purple so dark it was almost black. And just behind that glow was another, this one an orange that glowed hotter than the sun.

The youma panicked and called out for its creator, but its voice was drowned out by the attacks leveled against it.

Orange and purple twined together as they hurtled forward. In the gaping hole it had created in the front of the store, the youma was stopped short as it was enveloped by the combined attack. Saturn's Silence Void trapped the thing, contouring its body in unnatural ways as it was pulled into a terrifyingly boundless void. A void that was suddenly filled by the explosion from Uranus' World Shaking. The youma let out one last, silent howl as it disintegrated, its ashes swallowed up by the black hole. As the void began to collapse in on itself, its purpose complete, an inkwell fell to the ground and shattered.

Uranus walked over to it, and as the void blinked out in a tiny flash of purple, she brought her boot down on the remains of the inkwell, grinding it into nothing.

Saturn fell to her knees, her breathing labored. Her glaive disappeared and she crawled over beside Michiru. "Michiru-mama," she whispered as she picked up Michiru's limp hand.

Her child's voice snapped her out of the fight, and Uranus hurried over to them. She never noticed the arrival of her comrades or the long, slow whistle released upon witnessing the end of the battle.

"I guess they didn't need you this time," Mars said to Moon, who was standing agape beside her.

"What happened?" called Jupiter as she and Mercury came up to the scene. "Where's the youma?"

Mars pointed to a black stain smeared on the concrete floor. "We're a little late."

"I've never seen that attack before," said Moon softly. "It was gone so fast, but I swear I couldn't breath when I looked into it. And it was so cold," she added, hugging herself around a shiver.

"What happened?" asked Venus as she gingerly stepped around pieces of broken glass. She peered into the open storefront trying to see inside.

"Is someone there?" came a voice from inside. The proprietor inched forward unsteadily, dusty and dazed. "Help, please! My customers… Kaioh-san… I can't find them…"

The man was in tears, fear and shock obvious. Sailor Moon walked up to him and smiled gently. "We'll find them. Let my friends take you outside and we'll take care of everything else."

"That's what she said," he muttered as he was led out to be treated with the other wounded.

"Uranus! Neptune!" called Venus as she squinted into the dissipating haze.

"Over here!" called back a voice she wasn't expecting. Pluto stood by the back exit with Hotaru in her arms as Uranus did the same with Michiru.

Venus frowned with worry. "Are they okay? Do you need Mercury?"

Pluto shook her head. "The fight just wore Hotaru out. Michiru…"

"Will be fine," interjected Michiru a bit groggily. She rested her head against Uranus' shoulder in a way that contradicted her protesting tone. "And I really could walk on my own. I'm not a sick child."

"Why do it if you don't have to," returned Uranus. Then she turned to Venus. "We're going to get out of here while we can easily."

"The man who owns the store…" interrupted Michiru.

"He's okay," answered Venus. "There's a few minor injuries out front. Anyone else in here?"

Uranus shook her head. "We're it."

"Okay," said Venus with a nod. "We'll go over it all later."

They parted, the Outers disappearing out the back ally away from the commotion. In the front, Venus watched Mercury tend to the wounded and listened for the approach of emergency services. Across the street and at a safe distance, she saw a spot of pink with a baby stroller and two cats. _That answers that question_, she thought with a sigh.

They all caught the wail of sirens at the same time and nodded in agreement. It was time to go.

Mercury smiled at her wounded charge and turned to leave, but he grabbed her wrist to stop her. As earnest as the day is long, the young man grinned giddily at her and said, "I love you."

Mouth forming a shocked 'o,' Mercury's cheeks turned bright red.

Mars and Moon chuckled. Jupiter, however, frowned deeply. Moving between the two of them, she unlatched the lovesick geek from her partner and scolded the young man. "Hands off, Romeo. Don't you know it's against the rules for magical girls to have boyfriends." Then she drug Mercury away, leaving the young man with the doofiest expression she had ever seen in her life.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

They were waiting for her to say something. To make some wise pronouncement or form just the right question to give them the clue they needed to figure all of this out. Problem was, Minako mused, all she had was a slightly injured soldier and an ink stain. Not really much to go on there.

She leaned back in her beanbag chair and looked around at them all. Rei was beside her, Makoto was sitting on their bed holding Miki with Chibi-usa laying on her stomach next to her. The little girl kicked her legs lazily in the air as Ami, on one of the large, over-stuffed floor pillows, leaned against the side of the bed. Luna and Artemis had perched on the table, and Usagi rested her head on her folded arms, watching Luna's tail swish back and forth with a slightly distant look in her eyes.

Minako sighed. She wished she had seen the attack that Usagi kept mentioning, or that Mercury had gotten there soon enough to make something of the youma Saturn and Uranus had reduced to a stain on the broken tile. For lack of that, though, she need to find a way to wrap up the evening and put a bandaid on this very personal attack. The rest would have to wait until she could talk to Setsuna.

"So…" began Minako, "anyone have anything about this we don't already know?"

Several heads shook in the negative, and Makoto huffed. "Well," she said through a half grin, "I can say now I know without a doubt they'll make one heck of a set of babysitters."

Usagi perked up and lifted her head. "They're babysitting for you? When?" she asked, sounding almost hurt that she hadn't been asked first.

"When we go back to school," answered Makoto. "They volunteered without me saying anything about it. I guess they thought it was the best way to convince me to go back."

Ami smiled and nodded. "I suppose after that demonstration there isn't any argument we could make over how safe he'd be with them."

A gleeful smirk lit upon Rei's lips and she draped an arm casually behind Minako. "Oh, sure there is. Go ahead. Give it a shot."

Makoto blinked, a bit confused. "No, really, she's right. I mean, I still have a few hang-ups I need to work through, but I can't find any logical reason for us to argue with them about it."

"Pftt, logic," waved off Rei dismissively. Violet eyes then lit upon her princess. "Usagi, what is Haruka's favorite thing to do?"

Usagi answered instantly, "Flirt with pretty girls."

"Hmmm. Not what I was going for, but that'll work." Rei sat forward and tried very hard to sound serious and contemplative through her widening grin. "Okay, so there we all are, trapped in school, and Haruka is off for the day with Miki. And they've gone to the park for a walk."

"Where's Michiru?" asked Minako.

Rei paused and thought for a second. "At the music store," she decided out loud. "Her violin needed a tune-up. She obviously can't be with Haruka because…"

Ami laughed softly and picked up on the hanging sentence. "Because Michiru would be highly displeased if she caught her flirting with a cute girl."

"Exactly!" confirmed Rei. "And you all know babies are natural chick magnets. Except this time, Haruka isn't just flirting with one girl – she's flirting with six!"

Usagi giggled. "Because Miki is super cute and adorable like that."

Chibi-usa looked over her shoulder and smiled at the baby.

Makoto shifted so Miki was reclining on her raised knees. He burbled up at her and she tapped his nose. "Alright, it's a weekday afternoon and Haruka is using my child to attract co-eds. Other than Michiru plotting to slowly kill her, I'm not really seeing where the whole safety issue comes in."

"That's why I'm leader and you're not," returned Minako with a wide grin.

Makoto smirked. "Is that so?"

Minako nodded. "Uh huh. First," she went on, using her fingers to tick off each item as she went, "Haruka is distracted. Second, she's in a large crowd, and third, one of those co-eds is an ancient demon woken from its sleep by a rift in the time-space continuum."

Rei raised an eyebrow. "Wow, I'm impressed."

Feeling suddenly competative, one corner of Makoto's mouth turned up. "So where's Pluto? If there's a rift in the time-space continuum…"

Minako held up a finger to stop her. "She's busy fixing the rift," she answered confidently, as if she'd known this the entire time and hadn't seen it worth mentioning. "And she's unavailable for comment."

Makoto huffed and Ami giggled. "Our arrant babysitter seems to have found herself in an untenable situation."

"Definitely," agreed Rei. She sat up straighter, the tiniest spark in her eyes as this absurd tale continued to form in her mind. "Our evil ancient youma, though, doesn't really know what she's gotten herself into. The park's pretty empty, since it's a weekday, so this group of girls are the only ones around. She's thinking they're pretty easy prey. All she's got to do is drop the disguise, steal whatever indicator of purity she's after, and then take over the world."

Usagi laughed. "I don't think Haruka has anything pure left. And Haruka's gonna pummel her."

"But this is a cautionary tale," replied Ami, "so I presume there's some issue or problem about to arise other than the youma."

Rei nodded. "So the youma transforms. Now, suddenly, Haruka has a baby she's holding onto with one arm and five terrified females who are holding onto her. The terrified screaming doesn't really phase her, but she's got no free hands to pull out her henshin wand."

"Que the dramatic music," threw in Makoto with a chuckle.

Chibi-usa beamed. "Michiru! Her violin is done!"

A few more giggles, then a pause as Rei thought. "That's right!" she said finally. "Michiru got done early and has been watching from afar, sitting on the thickest branch of a two-hundred-year-old tree. And she's pissed."

"Okay, I get it," said Makoto. "Michiru is upset because she caught Haruka, so as the monster morphs back into its true form, she begins to play a tune of woe for her beloved rather than try to help her."

"Yep," answered Rei. "Haruka only has one option at this point. Run. So she breaks away from the girls, who apparently also didn't have anything pure left for the youma to take, and bolts for the car while this wildly dramatic violin piece plays in the background. Naturally, the youma is going to follow and take out all its frustrations on her.

"Cutting off the sidewalk and ignoring all the signs about staying off the grass, Haruka bolts for her car. She gets Miki quickly into his carseat and takes off at high speed, the youma in hot pursuit..."

Once the fictional chase started, ideas were offered more freely, the impromptu round-robin growing in both length and absurdity until the grand finale. A transformed Uranus – who had briefly hijacked a school bus full of nuns, entering as Haruka and emerging out the emergency exit as her alter ego amid screams and ruler swats – now stood atop the fully illuminated marquee sign of the Theater Grande in downtown Tokyo. The youma, who was now fully the size of the entire theater, had taken out roads and several office buildings in her rage. Japanese Security Forces surrounded them on all sides, their tanks and helicopters pretty useless when it came down to it.

"Then, the sky begins to swirl, purple and black," intoned Rei, her voice becoming low. "The music swells as thunder rumbles and lightening flashes. The rift that had originally been created by the youma opens like a gaping, jagged maw, and as the violin reaches it crescendo, the youma is sucked back into the rift. And Pluto grins, triumphant."

Minako and Makoto dissolved into fits of laughter as Usagi applauded. Luna rolled her eyes, and Artemis wasn't really sure what to think of it all.

Ami stood and took the happily burbling baby from his mother. Smiling herself, she perched on the edge of the bed and said, "As… dramatic and impressive… as all of that was, it still seems as though everyone came out all right."

"But the safety issues!" pointed out Minako through her laughter. "Haruka completely ignored the stay off the grass pesticide warnings!"

"Ha! That was nothing compared to the rest of it," intoned Rei. "She was in such a hurry to escape that she forgot to buckle Miki's carseat correctly, she violated more traffic laws than I can count, traumatized a bunch of nuns, destroyed a small bridge with an unusually powerful Space Sword Blaster, and had fully armed Security Forces aiming at them in the middle of Tokyo."

With a grin and a nod, Ami answered, "Well, you've certainly given us a great deal to think about."

"Yeah, Rei," added Makoto as she wiped at the tears in the corners of her eyes, "real serious stuff for us to think about there."

"Glad I could help out," said Rei through a wide grin, obviously pleased with herself. Checking this tale off as a success, she accepted the writer's bonus of Minako's happy giggles and bright eyes as the blonde hugged her arm tightly.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

The ER had turned into a madhouse, more so because of the reporters than the patients. It was a familiar enough scene. Tokyo was, after all, a perpetual target for the odd and depraved. Their victims tended to be an afterthought, though. A cap to the evening news story with their casts, stitches, and bandages – not wounded enough to lead with, but good window dressing when everyone had been shooed away from the scene. Which inevitably meant that before they could get the last few treated and out the door, the press would descend upon them.

Six months ago, Kaya would have sighed if she'd had the time and gone on about her job one way or the other. Now, there was a new urgency to things. A desperation had crept in behind the routine, the tiniest of distractions tickling at her as she searched the faces coming and going. In spite of the injuries being relatively few and mild, and no one being brought in unidentified, a cold fear had settled within her. This was all taking too long. She needed to call Ami.

A shy, flirty giggle caught her attention, and she looked over to see one of the reporters leaning over the desk. He smiled, said something too low for her to hear that caused the desk nurse to turn pink and lower her eyes.

Kaya seethed.

"Out! Now!" she commanded to the entire waiting area, though her ire was directed at the desk.

Everything came to a sudden halt as her voice echoed. The desk nurse looked suddenly terrified, certain terrible things were about to be visited upon her. The petit brunette tried to disappear into her chair as Kaya came up and hovered what seemed like meters over her. And for the life of her, she couldn't figure out why everyone was just staring. They should be running for their lives.

"Am I speaking a foreign language? Leave! Now!" ordered Kaya one more time with a voice she never used, and certainly not one she would unleash at work. "If you aren't dying or close to it, get out!"

That seemed to do it, and all but the one leaning on the desk beat a hasty retreat. The one remaining straightened slowly, adjusting his tie so he didn't look quite so handsomely disheveled. His jacket hung open and he smiled, his eyes glinting as he took in the doctor – a porcelain doll of a woman if not for the commanding voice and icy blue stare.

Pulling a business card from his pocket, he introduced himself. "Kojima Ishata, professional, free-lance, and always looking for a good story. I bet you could tell a few." He leaned forward just a touch and winked at her, causing the desk nurse to shrink back even more and try to roll her chair out of the way. "So… how about it…"

His friendly and familiar tone was abruptly cut off as Kaya reached out across the desk with both hands and grabbed him by his shirt collar. Her voice was low so only he could hear it and laced with something that turned his blood cold. "Listen to me, you son of a bitch. My patience this evening is gone. I have none left for you regardless of how wonderful a reporter I'm sure you are. So, please… get out of my ER. Now."

She released him, both of them falling back to their own sides of the desk. Kojima coughed, trying to act nonchalant as he straightened his shirt and tie. Grinning cockily around his embarrassment, he responded with only the slightest bit of hesitation. "Tell you what," he chucked a thumb over his shoulder, "how about I just go wait outside."

Kaya didn't answer, instead giving one last hard glance to the desk nurse before disappearing into the treatment area. She grabbed the first free chart her hand landed on and tried to calm herself down before… she glanced down at the chart… before she met with young mister Morashi and his minor head abrasions. Several deep breaths to match her slowed pace, and she found herself in front of the dazed-looking young man and his friend.

Morashi blinked sleepily at her as she greeted him, more likely from the pain medication he'd been given than the possibility of a concussion, and Kaya took the bloodied rag he was holding against his forehead.

"Will it need stitches?" his friend asked, obviously intrigued by the possibility.

"Just a few," answered Kaya.

"Bro, that's going to leave one mother of a scar," the friend said with awe.

Kaya couldn't help but grin. "I'm afraid it likely won't. In a month or so, if you keep it clean and bandaged properly, you probably won't even know it was there."

The friend's shoulders slumped. "Too bad. Chicks really dig that sort of thing, ya know."

"Did you see her?" Morashi asked suddenly, not really paying any attention to his companion.

"Who?" asked Kaya as she drew up a syringe.

"The girl who saved me." His eyes went dreamy and more unfocused than they already were. "She was beautiful, like an angel. A pretty blue angel."

"You would be all about the nerdy one," his friend laughed. "Man, you really need to get over the whole geek complex thing you've got going on. Did you even notice the blonde with the orange skirt? Now that was sexy right there."

Morashi didn't pay any attention to his friend, instead looking at a bewildered Kaya and saying with all the sincerity in his geeky little heart, "I love her. She picked me up off the ground, and she's my hero. I don't care if she's a magical girl and can't have a boyfriend because she has to stay pure forever like that horrible amazon said before she drug her away. I'll always love her."

Kaya's mouth dropped open and her eyes blinked. And then she started to laugh. She couldn't help it. It started as a light shake and slowly progressed to full on giggles. She covered her mouth, desperately not wanting to embarrass her patient or herself.

"Excuse me," she managed to choke out, and she laid down the needle and stepped quickly away, searching for an empty treatment cubicle. When she found one, she pulled the curtain closed and leaned against the bed rail. One hand was held over her mouth as the other wrapped around her stomach. Tears welled up and finally overflowed, turning her chuckling into a watery mess as every bit of frayed tension flowed out of her. She knew people could hear her and was grateful they knew enough to leave her alone, no matter how insane she may sound at the moment.

A full ten minutes passed before the mix of tears and laughter subsided, and she took a deep breath, immediately wishing she hadn't. With a frown she searched around for some tissue, after a few seconds finding a tiny box of almost transparent tissue squares. It would do, she figured, and she proceeded to try and straighten herself enough to deal with her patient. She smiled widely. "My daughter the superhero," she whispered to herself before stepping back out into the room.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

The house was quiet and still, a reflective calm having settled over them. Setsuna sat, journal in hand, in the pale violet glow of Hotaru's nightlights. The page in front of her remained as blank as it had been three hours before when she had opened the small book. What was she supposed to say about all of this? It should have been extremely straightforward and simple, yet the words eluded her.

_You're thinking too hard,_ a long ago voice chided gently. _The words are in your heart. Put them on the paper, in whatever language you hear them in. You can decipher it all at another time._

It was never quite that easy thought Setsuna as a slight grin touched her lips. Solomon had been a great believer in the written word, and the temple's guardian cat had tried to pass that on to her. For just a moment, as her mind focused on his voice, she could feel the soft black fur beneath her fingers as her memories scratched his ears. For a creature she had initially seen as a talking rodent, he had become a dear friend at a time when she felt she had none.

She let out a slow sigh and glanced over at the bed, startling slightly when she realized Hotaru's eyes were watching her sleepily.

"You're awake," said Setsuna softly.

Curled on her side, Hotaru nodded against her pillow. "Whatcha reading?"

Setsuna closed the journal. "Nothing of any importance. Just a small distraction. How are you feeling?"

Hotaru shrugged, then asked, "Is Michiru-mama okay?"

"Yes. You and Haruka saved her," answered Setsuna, offering the child a congratulatory smile. Then the smile faded just a bit and her eyes fell. "I didn't realize you remembered how to use your Silence Void."

"I didn't until just then." Hotaru grew quiet for a moment, then offered, "But I remember the last time I used it."

Setsuna's jaw clenched and her eyes clouded over as she looked back up at the child. "I suspected as much." Then the familiar small smile reappeared. "But it was a long time ago," she went on, affecting an air of reassurance. "It doesn't matter anymore…"

"Yes, it does," cut off Hotaru more forcefully than Setsuna was prepared for. The girl sat up, the covers bunching around her waist. "It matters, if for no other reason than how much it hurt you. I saw you crying, Setsuna. It was the last thing I saw before I woke up here, trapped behind an entity that hated me and living with the heartbreak of a man trying to save his daughter – _me_ – even though that wasn't who I really was. And you won't talk to me!"

"That's because there's nothing left to say!" shot back Setsuna as she abruptly stood from the desk chair. One hand clenched the small journal, the other closed into a tight fist. Her heart pounded in heart chest, but almost as soon as the words left her lips, she regretted them. "I'm sorry," she whispered hoarsely, her eyes unable to meet Hotaru's. "I know there really is a great deal we need to say. I've known that since the day I took you from the professor. I thought I would be ready for it, yet I find myself lost for what I'm supposed to say to a girl who has become my child."

Hotaru leaned forward, swinging her legs over the side of the bed, her bearing tentative. "Tell me what happened. Just tell me. What happened to you? To me? Tell me who made you forget about me, that one other person you've loved, and tell me why every time I look at Chibi-usa now, I see you."

She couldn't tell if she was hearing an edge of jealousy in Hotaru's voice or if it was simply need wrapped in confusion. Either way, a pang of resentment touched her heart. "I never forgot you," she answered softly. "And I can't do this right now."

Setsuna turned abruptly and began to walk from the room. She had the door open and one foot in the hallway when Hotaru's voice stopped her.

"At least tell me how long it's been," the girl said, her voice sounding defeated. "Can you at least do that?"

Without turning back to look at her, Setsuna answered, "Twenty-five millennia from that day to the destruction of the Moon, with twenty-five Serenitys wearing the crown. Since then… I don't really know. It became tiring counting millennia between losing those I loved," she finished in an absent whisper before stepping into the hallway and closing the door behind her.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Usagi's eyes blinked slowly and sleepily in the dark bedroom. Mamoru's arm was draped over her waist, his chest warm against her bare back. She grinned lazily and snuggled further under the covers.

Her mind wandered as it searched for sleep, this last fight still weighing on her. Seeing her friends hurt both angered and frightened her. These were the people she loved most in the world, and she felt a need to protect and cherish them just as much as they did her. Luna would tell her that wasn't how it was supposed to work, but it didn't matter. That's just how it was.

Hotaru's attack also continued to niggle at her. There was some dim, distant something she was sure she was supposed to know about it. She sighed lightly, the sound coming out more a yawn. Try as she might, she couldn't find those memories.

"It's not fair," she mumbled absently.

Mamoru's arm tightened gently around her middle as he asked groggily, "What's not."

"Hmmm?" Usagi looked confused for a moment, then she grinned wide and cuddled back against him. "I thought you were asleep."

"I was," he answered with a smile. "But then you started talking to yourself."

The blonde giggled. "Sorry. I was just thinking it's not fair Minako can remember things I can't. I am the princess, and some of it might be important. You'd think I could remember _something._"

"You could ask her," he suggested, his eyes still closed and his voice slurred with sleep. "If it's important, she'd tell you."

"I know," sighed Usagi. "That's why I don't ask." Then she rolled over and settled into the crook of his arm, closing her eyes. "I'm sleepy."

"Me, too," he answered before letting her new found silence lull him back to sleep.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

There was barely anyone on the road this time of the morning, the streetlights and advertisements reflecting their light off the darkened, damp pavement rather than chrome and metal. Kaya yawned, trying to keep her eyes open as she did. Ten more minutes and she'd be at Ami's. It was just after four, and she figured the girls would only be an hour or so away from getting up with the baby anyway...

And she very much wanted to see Ami.

She grinned slightly, thinking of the young man she had stitched up. He had been far from the last patient she saw over the course of the evening, but he at least had let her know her girls were okay. It helped, albeit slightly, and had made a night of minor injuries and unexpected babies that much more tolerable.

Pulling into the parking lot, she wondered for the first time if perhaps she should have called first. The idea was quickly dismissed as pointless, since she was already here. Part of her also didn't want to give them warning, so she could see for herself how they really were without giving them time for any cover.

Kaya sighed and release her seatbelt.

She heard the first faint hint of crying before she'd even stepped in front of the door. Loud and high-pitched, the sound carried out into the walkway, and she raised an eyebrow as she stared at the apartment number beneath the peep hole.

They were definitely awake.

Hesitantly, she knocked on the door. She could almost hear the pause behind Miki's unhappy wailing followed by the quick pace of slippered feet. She felt the gaze of a blue eye through the peep hole, then an uncomfortably long hesitancy.

Then, without any real warning, the door flung open, startling her back several paces.

"Mom?" blinked Ami, her eyes red and bleary as they tried to focus. "What are you doing here? What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," answered Kaya. "I heard about what happened last night and I wanted to check on you. Are you..."

Before she could finish the question, Ami's face crumpled and she dissolved into her own exhausted tears as she flung herself into her mother's arms. "He won't stop," she sobbed into Kaya's shoulder. "We put him to bed and he slept for about two hours, then he started to cry, and we changed him and fed him but he just keeps crying and crying and crying and..."

"Shhh," soothed Kaya as she stroked Ami's hair. "Let's go inside and I'll see if I can help, okay."

Ami looked up at her through watery eyes. "Really?"

Kaya smiled gently and nodded, then guided them inside. Makoto looked worse to her than Ami did, dark circles under her bloodshot eyes. Her hair was pulled into a loose ponytail, most of it escaping in haphazard strands to frame her weary features. The girl made not pretense at modesty as she paced the floor cradling a red-faced and screaming infant. There was the hint of a question in the way her lips pursed when she saw Kaya, but the words got lost in the sleepy fog that hung over her.

"I got off work and thought I'd come see how you were," said Kaya in response to the unasked question. She reached out to touch Miki's head, feeling for a fever. "I heard about the incident downtown."

Makoto frowned deeply.

"I'm not being a nosy mother-in-law," replied Kaya evenly, satisfied the baby's warmth and color were a matter of his exertion rather than illness. "But you can't expect I'm not going to worry now that I know what you've been doing." She smiled gently, trying to offer some sympathy for the current situation. "What have you tried so far?"

"Everything," answered Makoto, sounding completely defeated. "Diaper, food, bath, pacifier, swing, dryer, walk... neighbors are gonna kill us if we make it to dawn."

Kaya looked contemplative for a moment as Miki's cries hitched, hiccuped, then went up an octave as they continued in earnest. Makoto groaned and shifted him to her shoulder, patting him gently on the back as they started pacing the living room again.

Motioning for Ami, Kaya put an arm around her daughter's shoulders and hugged her tight once she was beside her. "I have an idea that will help. May I go look around in your kitchen for a moment?"

Confusion lit on Ami's features. "If you want to."

Kaya smiled. "I'll only be a few minutes. But you now have a difficult task to accomplish – convincing Makoto to go to bed when I tell you both to."

Ami looked like she wanted to cry again, either from the idea of sleep or the challenge before her, Kaya wasn't completely sure. She tried not to laugh in the face of her child's distress. Her daughter the superhero, indeed.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

The door to the rooftop opened quietly, a rush of warm air and the loud hum of the air conditioning system washing over Masanori as he stepped into the pre-dawn darkness. The boy paused and took a deep breath of the damp air.

Nothing.

He let the door fall closed behind him and walked slowly to the high brick and concrete edge of the arts building. His backpack slid from his shoulder and was gently tossed aside, coming to rest in a nook created by the skylight and ventilation shaft. Stars glittered above the mist of the horizon, streaks of purplish clouds becoming visible in the pinkish light.

Masanori stared at the emerging skyline, but saw nothing. The angels, the unicorns, the frogs with blue polka dots, and the dragons with fiery wings – all gone. He closed his eyes and listened, but the world had gone silent. His siren no longer called to him. His hands came up to rest on the rain-tinged concrete ledge in front of him. His fingers flexed on the stone, gently at first, then harder until the skin had been rubbed raw.

But still, nothing.

The boy opened his eyes and stared out. "Red sky by morning," he whispered as he struggled slightly to pull himself onto the ledge. He took a moment to balance himself, then moved several paces to the left. The campus below was quiet – a natural, still calm he envied. Masanori reached out, trying to grasp the moon before it faded away into the morning. Tears stung his eyes, what was left of his soul crying out and lost for what had been stolen from him. The universe felt empty, lonely.

There was nothing left.

A warm breeze wrapped around him, dulling the memory of icy fingers wrapped around his heart. It promised him an end to the nothingness, and he embraced it. Stepping forward, he fell into the morning sun.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Rei sat up abruptly in bed, her breathing labored, fire in her eyes. Something called to her, but she couldn't hear the words. A sense of dread crept over her, replacing the comfortable contentment she'd fallen asleep with.

Groggy and shivering from the sudden loss of wife and covers, Minako scrubbed at her eyes and pushed herself up slightly from where she lay on her stomach. "Rei? What's wrong?"

Minako's hand touched her arm, and Rei closed her eyes. "I... I'm not sure," she answered quietly, her voice raspy. Then her eyes opened and met Minako's. "We have to go."

"Go where?" asked Minako, quickly shaking off the last of her sleepiness as Rei moved from the bed and began to get dressed.

"I don't know yet," answered Rei as she stumbled, cursed, then hiked up her jeans. "I just know we have to go."

"Okay," returned Minako as she grabbed for a t-shirt and followed Rei's uneasy lead. "I'm right here with you. Just lead the way."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Minako watched the sky fade from a beautiful fiery orange mixed with hues of pink and streaked with purple hued clouds to a gentle blue with puffs of white. It would have been a marvelous thing to watch if not for the sense of dread rolling off Rei in waves.

The miko had never said where they were going, she honestly didn't seem to know. Their pace was uneven. At times they found themselves barely inching along while at others Minako found herself practically running to keep up with Rei's determined pace, and more than once she'd had to grab her arm to keep her from walking into traffic. And though she trusted Rei completely, the blonde found herself frustrated for the lack of information or insight.

They turned a corner, the setting familiar even if Rei didn't seem to notice. Tokyo University began to spread out in front of them, and it was Minako who noticed the gathering crowd first. She reached out and grasped Rei's wrist to slow her down.

Rei startled and looked back at her, practically glaring. "We're almost there."

"I think we are there," answered Minako gently, nodding her head in the direction of the crowd and flashing emergency vehicles.

Violet eyes seemed to fade a shade, and Rei's posture relaxed. She looked around, for the first time really noticing where they were. "What's going on up there?"

"Don't know yet," shrugged Minako. "C'mon. We'll see what we can find out."

There was noticeable trepidation in their steps as they moved closer to the crowd. It was made up primarily of students who had been sidetracked on their way to a summer morning class. Yellow police tape had been strung up around the arts building, a handful of police left to try and keep the curious on-lookers under control. They heard the back of an ambulance slam shut, saw several young women crying and others in the crowd just looking dazed.

Then Minako saw something unexpected. She nudged Rei slightly to get her attention.

Rei's forehead creased and a tight frown as she spotted Haruka and Michiru lingering on the fringes of the gathered crowd. "What are they doing here?"

"Only one way to find out," returned Minako.

She and Rei made their way through the on-lookers until they were close enough for Minako to wave down her target. "Hey," she called with a grin. "We weren't expecting to see you guys out this early."

"You, either," returned Haruka, and while her tone wasn't hostile, it did reflect business. Minako's grin faltered as Haruka went on, "But I didn't really plan on us being out here, either."

"Do you know what's going on?" asked Minako.

Haruka shook her head. "Someone said it was a jumper. Groundskeeper found him."

"No," interjected Michiru. Darkened eyes stared in the direction of the arts building as she hugged her arms tight across her chest. "It's more than that."

"You felt it, too," said Rei, her eyes traveling in the same direction as Michiru's.

"Yes. Do you know what it is?"

Rei shook her head. "Not yet."

"Well, we aren't going to be able to do much here with this crowd," replied Haruka, her agitation obvious and a reflection of her partner.

Minako could sympathize. The blonde sighed, conceding the point. "How about we meet back here tonight after dark? Around nine? I'll get in touch with the others, and it'll give Rei time to meditate on things," she added, receiving a brief nod from Rei in return.

"Okay, we can do that," answered Haruka.

"Tonight, then." Minako thought for a second, then asked, "Do you guys think it would be okay if I came over and spoke to Setsuna this afternoon?"

They seemed a bit surprised by the question, but didn't object. "I don't see why not," said Michiru. "She and Hotaru were still asleep when we left, but I'll let her know you plan on dropping by around lunch time."

"And about all this," added Haruka.

The four of them stood in silence a bit longer, reluctant to leave. The ambulance finally pulled away, and for most of the crowd that seemed to indicate it was time to move on. As students began to disperse, Rei pulled herself away to follow after Minako, wishing her fire was calling to her as strongly as this building was.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Lounging on an oversized beanbag chair, Roku tapped on her datapad and tried to ignore the irritants around her. Hidden far below the arts building, their cavern had the unfortunate feature of echoing and amplifying loud sounds. Other than that, though, it was perfect. No light other than the bare bulbs that hung like stalagmites from the ceiling. Manga volumes piled in high stacks for lack of bookshelves and video games stashed into corners. All manor of drawing instruments overflowed from metal cases and shoeboxes. Crayon drawings, pencil sketches, and sheet music were tacked to the uneven walls and scattered across the rough dirt floor. There was nothing green, no plant life of any kind, and no furry critters scurrying about. A slight, musty draft that kept the air from even hinting at fresh wafted through the open space.

Roku grinned in the electronic glow from her datapad, a dog-eared manga volume tucked snugly at her side.

Several yards away from her on a raised stone platform, August played at the foot of their master's throne. The boy had taken a handful of pastels from Kuniku-sama's collection and drawn a racetrack onto the floor. A bucket of Legos and Matchbox hot rods lay haphazardly around him as he raced lap after lap, make-believe fiery crashes echoing off the walls like bullets.

Kunkiku-sama didn't seem to mind.

Chisato, on the other hand, was visibly annoyed. She disliked the boy to begin with, though Roku didn't understand why. It wasn't like he was a constant little chatterbox. Perhaps it was because she was a cold and bitter old woman, Roku mused with a smirk. A talent ignored and overshadowed by the greatness of their master.

She chanced a glance in the direction of their eccentric creator. He had been displeased with her latest failure, and had it not been for her past successes, he likely would have erased her right then and there. She touched her cheek gingerly, the bruise making her winch. Another failure would not be tolerated. Luckily, he was wrapped up in one of his "inspirational moments" and didn't feel an immediate need for more Creative Sparks to fuel his visions.

With great enthusiasm and flourish, Kuniku-sama continued to trace out scenes on his giant canvas. Fully two stories tall and twice as wide, the half blank white wall filled the back of the cavern from floor to ceiling. Flanked with library ladders and scaffolding, her master slowly created the world they would eventually inhabit. It was an abstract world, the shadows and edges of his great castle taking form in the top corner. A set of detached stairs led to a long bridge that crossed around to nowhere but somehow led to a tower. A shadow princess with a golden tiara stood flanked by stained glass, her gem-studded gown flowing into the clouds. Below her, a creature with fiery wings took shape, bleeding out from the orange flames of the sun.

Beneath that, a valley was forming, and Kuniku-sama laughed in maniacal glee. The pink ruffled wristband of his shirt dipped into his paint along with his brush, but he didn't notice. Nor did he care about the splatters of paint on his tailored white pants and shoes. He ran a hand through the shiny black of his hair, then blew a blond streaked bang out of his eyes before sliding down from his ladder, the large diamond stud in his ear glinting in the beam of his painter's light as he went. Grinning like a mad hatter in the full throws of his tea party, he bounded over to the CReaToR.

The glass and metal container stood half as tall as the canvas and was about ten feet in circumference. Behind the glass, the brilliant golden glow of the Creative Sparks they'd captured peeked out from between the rivet and steel bands that held it all together. Kuniku-sama was almost reverent as he stood before it and reached out to tap gently on the small computer panel positioned at chest height. The glow intensified, eery shadow highlighting his features for just a moment before a tiny, rainbow colored bottle appeared in a sparkly silver haze. He took the bottle from the rounded nook and, humming happily to himself, squeezed out the contents onto his painter's palate.

His smile grew, and he bounded back to his ladder.

"What is going on out there?" came a sudden shrill and irritated voice.

Roku cringed as Shiori came stomping into the cavern, her high heels crunching the sandy gravel beneath her feet.

"All those people just standing around!" Shiori continued to complain as her briefcase was dropped onto the velvety blue cushions of a lounging sofa.

Without looking away from her computer, Chisato answered, "A human finally realized how worthless his life was. The others came to watch."

Shiori chuckled and fell onto the sofa beside her briefcase. "Slow entertainment day, huh."

This time Chisato did turn away from her work, minimizing the window that held an explanation of ancient engraving techniques. Her wooden desk chair creaked slightly and green eyes that matched the teardrop emerald dangling from her left ear glared at Shiori. "Aren't you supposed to be at work?"

Shiori frowned. "The errand girl called out sick, so I've been sent to fetch coffee and sandwiches for this morning's meeting. Aren't you supposed to be teaching a class?"

"Canceled," returned Chisato. She rolled down the sleeves of her white blouse and buttoned the wrists. "So you should have a little more time to prove you can actually accomplish something before I have to go and do it for you. Something other than being a human's punctual servant, that is."

Roku immediately sunk deeper into her beanbag as August scurried under their master's throne.

Glaring daggers at Chisato, Shiori sat up board straight. But before she could get out a rebuttal, long tapered fingers grabbed her hair where it was tied into a knot at the back of her head. She gasped in surprise as she was jerked backward from the couch, her feet dragging. Kuniku-sama pulled her along until her feet were under her, and she stumbled behind him until they were standing in front of his canvas.

His voice loud and high-pitched, he pointed furiously as the scenes in front of them. "Do you see this? Do you? This is my masterpiece, my life! And yours," he added with venom. He released her, pushing her away as he did. "Now stop bickering and get back to your actual job! Go!"

A burning hatred lit in Shiori's blue eyes, but she hurried away rather than risk any more of her master's wrath.

Short temper simmering, Kuniku-sama walked over to his throne and sat with a dramatic sigh. He held his head in his hand, his expression downfallen. Then he turned his eyes to Chisato. "What color was the hero's cape?"

Chisato leaned back in her chair. "Black, lined with silver," she answered tersely, not bothering to pull the notes or sketches from her portfolio.

Kuniku-sama thought for a moment, then slowly began to nod. "Silver," he said, reaching for a sketchpad. "Trimmed in black. With some red. That's perfect!"

Chisato ignored him and went back to her computer as August tentatively poked his head out. Sensing the storm had passed, he went back to playing with his cars, fully overlooked by their master.

Roku tapped her datapad to bring her project back up. Hopefully, Kuniku-sama would keep his attention on his painting and Shiori for awhile, because she really wanted to get this last chapter translated.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Gasping for breath, Kaya sat up clutching the front of her shirt. Beneath her fingers she could feel the blood, and she knew without doubt that in this moment she was going to die.

But death never came fro her, and after several minutes she realized the pain she felt was her own fingernails digging into her skin. Her tired eyes slowly opened, and she took several deep breaths to slow her heart. Just a nightmare, nothing more.

She exhaled long and slow, her fingers untangling from her shirt and moving over to touch Miki's relaxed fist. The baby slept soundly in his electric rocker beside where she had fallen asleep on the couch. Thankfully she hadn't disturbed him. She glanced from Miki to the hallway. From the quiet in the apartment, it seemed his mothers were also getting the rest they needed.

Kaya grinned. It was time for her to go home.

Gently lifting Miki from his rocker, she cradled him in her arms and watched him sleep for a few minutes. Then she carried him back to his nursery, coming up short when she noticed his crib was missing. She frowned, then nodded, wondering why she'd been surprised to see it gone.

Back in the hallway, she listened at Ami and Makoto's bedroom door for a moment before easing it open. The two of them were curled into each other, both soundly asleep. Kaya tiptoed over to the crib and lay the baby down. She would leave them a note and be on her way.

The drive back to the house was uneventful, and as Kaya pulled her keys from her bag, she could already feel the bed beneath her. Her shoes were toed off and left haphazardly by the door. Had it not been for the red blinking light on her answering machine she would have happily tossed her suit jacket on top of her brief case without concern about where either of them landed. But the light had broken the pleasant sleepy haze she was falling into, and the professional side of her wouldn't let her rest until the messages were checked.

At least there was only one, she thought as she tossed her keys on the table and hit the play button.

"Kaya, it's Fredrick. Are you there?" came an excited German voice. Voice rising in pitch, he made an attempt to communicate in Japanese, but halfway through the broken sentences gave way to almost frantic German. By that point, though, Kaya was barely listening. She fell into the chair beside the small side table, her blood cold. "Call me," he urged, his excited rambling coming to an end. "Call me Kaya, because I have to know... what in God's name have you sent me?"

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

There was a noticeable tension in the house as Minako was quietly welcomed by Setsuna. It was unnerving to her, and she wondered if perhaps she should save her questions for another time. But it was a simple enough question, and maybe it would lead to a happier subject that would clear away some of the disquiet she sensed in her friend.

Minako offered a smile as she and Setsuna settled in the library.

Setsuna attempted to return it, but it fell a bit short. "Is this visit business or pleasure?" she asked lightly as had become their routine.

"Mostly business," answered Minako. Her mouth quirked into an apologetic grin. "Sorry."

"It can't be helped," replied Setsuna easing back into her highbacked leather chair. "Is it about this morning? Michiru told me about running into you and Rei."

Minako shook her head. "No. Rei's still working on that, so we'll all get to that eventually. This visit is about yesterday."

A dark eyebrow rose in curiosity. "You could ask Michiru directly for the most concrete answer to how she is." Then Setsuna's smile grew genuine. "Though I do enjoy you coming to speak with me, regardless. From what I can see, she's recovered very well."

"Good," said Minako with a short nod. "But that's not really what I wanted to ask you about." She leaned forward onto her knees as the question appeared on Setsuna's face. "Hotaru's attack kinda bothered Usagi a bit, like she thinks she should know something she doesn't. I didn't see it, and even if I had, I don't think I could tell her anything."

Setsuna frowned, her bearing suddenly defensive. "So why come to me rather than asking Hotaru yourself?"

Minako was taken aback by the sharp reply. "Because..." she started, at a sudden loss. Sitting up straighter, her voice becoming firmer, she went on, "Because I thought I could get a better answer from you. Aside from you being her mother and thinking I should start with you out of basic politeness, you've seen it and know what it can do. And you probably know what it is Usagi can't remember, even if you may not realize it. So I came to ask you first."

Setsuna stood and walked several paces away, her arms crossed tight against her chest. "Why assume I know anything or that I've seen it before? It certainly wouldn't be the first time one of the queen's guard manifested a new attack."

"Then tell me that's what happened here, and I'll take you at your word," returned Minako. "We'll leave it at that and go on to talk about our old friends or some other subject that doesn't make you look like you're lying to me."

Closing her eyes, Setsuna's head lowered in a defeated gesture. Almost to herself she said softly, "Why does everyone suddenly want to talk about the past?" Then her eyes opened and looked into Minako's with a sadness the girl wasn't prepared for. "She calls it her Silence Void. It's a defensive attack that creates holes in large objects without the mess of an explosion by funneling debris into what is essentially a black hole. Until yesterday I had never seen her use it any other way. For that matter, I had rarely ever seen her use it for anything other than to amuse Kiku. Saturn would open craters out in The Barrens, Jupiter would throw some object or another in, and Mercury would monitor it on her minicomputer to see how far she could track it before it or the hole disappeared. It was all just a game to them."

"Then why is Usagi so bothered by it?" asked Minako, fully confused but determined to find some kind of answer.

Setsuna only shrugged. "I don't know. As far as I'm aware, her mother never told her anything."

"About what?" pressed Minako, finally standing herself. "There is something. There's a reason the three of you tried to kill her that goes beyond what you told us. There has to be, because every history lesson I got as Venus said that Saturn was a hero for sacrificing herself to save the alliance. You don't go around blindly killing heroes."

"There is no more to that matter that you need to know," replied Setsuna coldly, the sadness Minako had seen in her eyes replaced by a cold defiance.

Frustrated, Minako took a deep breath. She hadn't expected things to go this far off track. "The three of you can't keep doing this," she said calmly but with a firmness that demanded truth. "You can't keep doing your own thing and wrapping it up in secrets. I told you this before, and I thought you agreed with me. We are, and have always been, one guard with one ultimate purpose. I need you to accept that, because if you don't, neither will they, and I _will not_ allow us to fall apart because of stubbornness."

The walls were almost visible as they went up around her. "It's far less stubbornness on my part than it is basic orders."

"Who's orders?"

Minako sighed. "It was obviously before Aria. Was it one of the queens? What harm does it do just to tell me where the orders came from so I'll go away and leave you alone about it?"

"When Usagi is queen," answered Setsuna slowly, "I will tell her. Where the information goes after that is left to her discretion."

"Setsuna," began Minako, her voice gentler as she took a step forward, "when Usagi is queen it will be over a new kingdom, on a different planet, with different customs and a different way of life. Are the orders that you're so fiercely protecting even going to matter at that point? You don't have to say anything to me about it, but why not just tell her now and put it all to rest? Then you can just let all of that go once and for all."

Setsuna bristled, and with great regret Minako realized she had chosen the wrong words. "Regardless of how you have chosen to lead or the planet we may be standing on," replied Setsuna, her jaw clenching, "my orders stand and will only be repeated to the queen, when she is queen. Which is not today."

The blonde nodded, recognizing the need to step back and start over. "Alright. This isn't the talk I'd thought we'd have, but you did answer some of my questions. I can at least tell Usagi something now." She crossed her arms in a more casual imitation of the woman across from her. "But whatever these order are, if it's what's keeping the three of you at arms length from the rest of us and leaving them to act on their own as they see fit, then we need to come up with a new set of orders. Something is coming, and I will not have chaos in the ranks. Not anymore."

Minako didn't wait for a response. She couldn't, because she already felt like her heart was going to pound out of her chest and she didn't want to show even a hint of the weakness she felt. Keeping her voice steady, she said as she turned to leave, "I'll see all of you tonight at nine."

No words followed her as she left the library, and she ignored the curious glance Haruka threw her as she quickly left the house. She was two blocks away before her steps slowed and her posture relaxed. She took a deep breath and let it out in a slow sigh as she leaned against a telephone pole. Her hands shook ever so slightly from both adrenaline and the shock of an openly defiant and hostile Setsuna.

"What is going on?" she whispered to herself. "Has the whole world gone crazy?"

Several minutes went by, the sounds of the afternoon helping to bring her universe upright again. She wanted to see Rei. That would put her fully back on course, and then maybe they could start to untangle this whole mess.

With her driving thought the brunette waiting for her at home, Minako started the trek back to the shrine.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Coming up the stairs of the shrine, Minako felt a sense of comfort and relief begin to overtake the confusion and stress Setsuna had left her with. She saw Artemis waiting for her and grinned. Home was a wonderful place to be.

The white cat greeted her by jumping into her arms and nuzzling her cheek. "How did it go?" he asked as she settled on her shoulder.

"Not like I'd expected," Minako answered with a shrug. "Have you seen Rei?"

"Breifly," replied Artemis. "She sees or senses something, but it seems to be confusing her."

A short, humorless laugh escaped from Minako's throat. "That's apparently the theme for today."

She began walking toward the house, but wound up taking a detour into the gardens. Stopping in front of a large, old tree with flowing branches of green leaves that seemed to stretch out into the sky forever, Minako reached out and traced the symbol for Jupiter onto the rough bark. Artemis grinned in fond remembrance of his former master as Minako's fingers lingered over the invisible symbol. "I know you don't like the way I've done things lately, Aria. And that you really don't like some of the changes I've made. But if you could give me a hint on how to handle things this time..."

"I think she's very proud of you," said Artemis confidently. Then he focused on the spot where Minako's fingers touched the tree bark. "Isn't that right, Jupiter?" He cocked his head as though he were listening, then is whiskers twitched and he nodded. "Yes, that is very true."

"What is?" asked Minako suspiciously.

"That she was your instructor and that alone ensures you have grown into a superb leader," he answered with a wide kitty grin, accurately reflecting Aria's belief on the matter.

Minako giggled and scratched Artemis' ears in thanks. "I love you," she said simply. Then she turned back to the tree. "I love you, too. I'll come visit again soon."

Inside the house, she found Rei alone at the dinner table. Dressed in her robes with her hair pulled up by a red tie, the miko stared contemplatively into a nearly empty glass of water. Her bangs were sweaty and her face slightly flushed, giving evidence to the task she'd been performing.

"Hey there," said Minako as she laid a hand lightly on Rei's shoulder.

Rei snapped from her thoughts and looked up as Artemis jumped onto the table. "Oh, hey. How'd it go?"

"Not very good," replied Minako as she took a seat beside Rei. "Setsuna was... in a mood. It was practically a fight to get anything out of her, and then all she'd tell me was that she really didn't know anything. She did say that Hotaru's attack is primarily defensive."

A derisive sound passed Rei's lips. "That's not the impression I got."

"Me, either," sighed Minako. "How about you? How are you making out?"

"Not much better than you," frowned Rei. Her eyebrows knit together in some confusion as she tried to piece together the images she'd seen into a coherent thought. "There is something, but... it doesn't make sense. It's almost like... well, like a fairytale," she finished almost sheepishly.

"A what?"

"A fairy tale," repeated Rei. She reached back and pulled the tie from her hair, playing the red fabric through her fingers. "But it's not normal. It's fractured and incomplete, unfocused. That's what I see, and none of it makes any sense."

"It will," promised Minako, digging down to find the confidence they both needed. "Eventually, it will." She laid a hand over Rei's. "I need to call Makoto, let her and Ami know they need to meet us out a the University tonight."

Rei nodded. "Okay. Then I'm going to get back to..."

Minako's grip tightened gently. "No. You've done enough for now. Don't exhaust yourself. Besides, I want to have lunch with you on my self-imposed sick day."

With a half-grin, Rei acquiesced. Maybe after a decent meal her fractured fairytale would start to make some sense.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

The night had settled in warm and humid, with more activity on the campus than they'd expected. The arts building, however, stood dark and silent. A timed light in the lobby blinked out at precisely 9:00 pm, leaving the yellow police tape that surrounded it a dark, thin shadow.

Minako looked at her watch and frowned, her foot beginning to tap out a staccato rhythm on the sidewalk.

An arm's length away, Rei talked with Ami as Makoto handed a sleeping Miki to Usagi. The blonde cuddled the baby gently and cooed silently as Ami went on about their morning.

"My mom came by and helped out, though. So we finally did get some sleep." Ami hesitated slightly, then added, "She'd heard about the fight because of some bystanders being brought to the ER. She was worried about us."

Makoto smirked. "I admit I was a bit annoyed, cause I don't want her hovering like that all the time even if I do understand her being worried. But once my head hit the pillow, I stopped caring. Though I still want to know how she got him to go to sleep."

Ami looked down a bit guiltily, which piqued Rei's interest. Minako's growing agitation kept her from asking any questions, though. So she took it as a small blessing when four figures slowly began to emerge from the dark.

Hotaru broke away from her parents almost immediately and ran over beside Usagi and Makoto. "Where's Chibi-usa?" she asked, her disappointment obvious at not seeing her friend.

"She's at home with Shingo," answered Usagi. "I didn't think she needed to be here for this." She continued to rock Miki, all of them missing the irony in her statement.

Haruka and Michiru kept a few paces back from Setsuna as she approached Minako, an uncharacteristic apprehension in their baring. They watched with great interest as garnet eyes met blue, each holding the other for a tense beat before Setsuna inclined her head.

Minako returned the gesture. "I'm glad you made it," she said evenly.

"I apologize for the delay," returned Setsuna, her voice subdued. "We had some unforeseen logistical issues."

A blonde eyebrow raised in question.

"A flat tire," she elaborated.

Another time, Minako would have smirked and teased Haruka for it, but her current mood just didn't allow it. Instead, she said flatly, "Since we're all here now, I suppose we should get on with this. We can start with the roof unless anyone has any other suggestions."

She looked specifically to Rei and Michiru, but when both shook their heads, she ducked under the police tape and moved to find an open door into the building.

Rei would have been at her side if Haruka hadn't subtly asked for her attention. She fell back behind the others to walk alone with the racer.

Quietly so no one else would hear, Haruka asked, "Do you have any idea what's going on with those two?"

Rei shook her head. "Minako said Setsuna was a little off today when they talked, but other than that..."

Haruka's lips quirked as Rei's sentence trailed off. "Did she tell you they were both slamming doors on her way out? Yeah," went on Haruka at Rei's surprised expression. "And after that, Setsuna locked herself in the library and refused to come out or speak to anyone until about an hour ago. She usually enjoys those visits. I don't know what they talk about, but they go on for hours. I think Minako has helped her find her inner gossip." She huffed in amusement, then shook her head. "But today was just..."

"Odd," supplied Rei as she watched Ami and her mini computer tinker with the side entrance's ID reader.

"Yeah," sighed Haruka. "So... any idea what we're going to find in here? Maybe make the day a little better?"

"Sorry, no," said Rei. Then she smirked as the light on the ID reader changed from red to green. "And I don't think it's going to get any better."

Minako laid a hand on Ami's shoulder, the gesture saying 'good job.' Then she waved for the others to follow them as the door clicked open.

It was eerily quiet inside, the classrooms closed off and silent. The click and tap of their steps echoed and mixed with the hum of the air conditioning, their flashlight beams reflecting off glass cabinets that held plaques, trophies, and memorabilia from productions the university had participated in. They made their way to the rooftop relatively quickly, Ami able to bypass the security system easily so they would remain undetected.

They crossed through the doorway with a solemn reverence. In silence they dispersed, their steps slow as they tried to find something out of place or some clue that would stand out in the dark.

The rooftop on this side of the building wasn't really meant for social use, but rather had the utilitarian purpose of housing duct work for the ventilation system and a stack that led to a large kiln in the room below. In the center of the roof was a skylight through which a dim, white glow could be seen.

Ami peered down through the glass with Minako and Makoto beside her. "Nightlights," she said as data scrolled across her mini computer. "But only in this room?"

"We might need to go down there next," answered Minako. She looked up to try to see Rei and could make out the miko's figure over by the edge of the building.

Rei's hands rested on the ledge, her eyes closing as she tried to listen. She could feel the dark energy surrounding the building, but couldn't pinpoint the source. She had seen Michiru move off to her right, possibly listening for the same thing from whatever forces spoke to her. Given her silence, though, she didn't seem to be having any more luck than Rei herself was. Then she heard a heavy sigh that carried in it regret and sorrow. With great reluctance, she turned to see Haruka stand from where she had crouched beside one of the ventilation shafts.

The racer didn't say anything to anyone, just quietly walked over to her partner. "I'm sorry," she whispered as she handed Michiru a small, laminated white card.

In the beam of Haruka's flashlight, Michiru looked confused for a moment. Then her face fell and she held the card to her chest. "My little love. Why would you do such a thing?"

With the others behind her, Minako approached tentatively as Hotaru moved around her to get to Michiru. Michiru handed the card to Minako when it was silently asked for, then rested her head on Haruka's shoulder as Hotaru reached for her hand.

"Tsuzuki Masanori," she read softly from the elementary school ID, her heart sinking as her eyes were drawn to the picture of the bown-eyed boy.

"Oh, Chibi-usa," whispered Usagi as she remembered the boy Chibi-usa had had such a terrible crush on. "I'm glad I didn't bring you with my tonight."

Minako let out a long, steadying breath. "I think we have what we need from up here. There's a room downstairs we need to check next, see if we can find anything else." She paused, getting a nod from both Michiru and Rei. "Alright, then. Let's go."

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

The lights in the art room below them had turned out to be more coincidence than clue. They had looked around, poked and prodded in corners and crevices, and scanned any hint of dust or odd looking crack they found. But nothing. Another trip with another plan would be needed, but for tonight, it was time to go home.

Usagi rode back to her house with Rei and Minako. The frustration rolling off both of them was palpable, and the uneasy silence left all of them fidgety and feeling like there was something more they needed to be doing.

Except that Usagi did have a task in front of her, and as they pulled up to the house, she felt the weight of it on her heart.

"Do you want us to come with you?" asked Minako.

Usagi shook her head as she climbed out of the back seat. "No. I think I need to do this on my own. But thank you."

Minako nodded and they said their good-byes.

Usagi's hand rested over the doorknob for several seconds, and she took a deep breath before entering without announcement. As she got closer to the living room, she heard the crying, and was surprised to see Chibi-usa sobbing into the chest of a bewildered looking Shingo. Then she saw the TV and the evening news logo over the shoulder of a stern looking anchor as he talked about a "great tragedy" that have befallen the art community with the "sudden death of a brightly rising star."

"Chibi-usa," called Usagi softly as she walked into the room.

The little girl looked up, her eyes red and swollen. Then she let go of Shingo and launched herself at Usagi.

Usagi knelt down so she could wrap the child in her arms.

"We were gonna watch a movie," explained Shingo quickly. "The news just had to go off, but then..."

"Usagi," choked out Chibi-usa into the older girl's shirt, "they said he's dead. They're lying, aren't they? He wouldn't do what they said he did. Masanori wouldn't!"

"I'm sorry," she said gently as she stroked the child's back. "But we don't think it's what they said, and we're going to find out what really happened to him. I promise."

Chibi-usa shook her head. "But he's my friend. Why did he do it? Why?"

She didn't have an answer, but for now she didn't really need one. Instead, she lifted Chibi-usa and held her until she had cried herself out. Then she carried her upstairs and tucked her into bed beside her. Shingo would get a better explanation, and she would need to call Mamoru and their parents. Tomorrow, though. She pulled Chibi-usa closer to her side. She could do all of that tomorrow.


End file.
